Revolving Hearts
by Vocataku01
Summary: Bradly Smith leaves his life of crime and pain behind and joins Beacon Academy to use his gifts for good. He quickly crosses paths with a pair of sisters and a queen of ice who, although terrified at first, befriend him. As they learn of his rough upbringing however, Weiss finds him unlike anyone she's ever met before. (First time writing a fanfic, hope you like it. Sorry no Blake)
1. Chapter 1

_Revolving Hearts_

_A RWBY Fan-fiction by Vocataku01_

Chapter 1- Introductions

A warm summer's day dawned over Vale as airships, ferrying the newest additions to Beacon Academy's arrived at their destination. Within them, up and coming hunters and huntresses of all shapes and styles from all walks of life. A young early-starter, clad in a black and red corset-like jacket and matching skirt ,with silver eyes shining of enthusiasm, entered Beacon's main courtyard along side a taller, violet-eyed, blonde woman. Just as soon as they arrived, however, the blonde ran off with other older students leaving the younger girl behind to explore this new school on her own. Walking on, nervous and afraid, lost in her own worry, the girl of red accidentally ran in to the luggage of another female student. She was slender, had long white hair, sharp blue eyes, and dressed in an exquisite white dress and matching jacket. The silver-eyed girl jumped to her feet and was quick to apologize.

"I'm sorry, I should have been-" Her voice was cut short by the white haired girl.

"You should watch where you're going! Do you know how much damage you could have caused?"

She began repacking a suitcase that had opened in the altercation and spilled it's contents; dust. After a lecture about the substance followed by some harsh words from the older girl...and an explosion, a tall, dark figure had gained interest and began approaching the two girls. The sound of heavy boost against the stone walkway and chime of light metal clanging together, brought this figure to the two young students' attention as it halted behind the girl in white. An ominous feeling overcame the two girls as this figure stood motionless in front of them. It was a taller man, about six feet in height, with straight, shoulder length darker blonde hair streaming out from the rim of a black wild west-styled hat, face hidden behind it's lowered rim. He wore a white dress shirt under a black vest with matching dress pants and a large, black, leather long-coat. On his feet were black western boots with sharp metal spurs at each heel. On his waist he donned a black leather belt, clasped together with a large, decorative buckle that sported a skull with a rose clenched in it's jaws. All of his clothes seemed well-worn and beaten up, his jacket had stitches in multiple different places, a sign that it had seen many fights. Finally, the strap of a simple brown rucksack could be seen over his left shoulder from within the gap of his jacket.

The girls were intimidated by his presence, and feared what his intentions were. The youngest of the two girls was the first to break the tension. Nervously, she took in a sharp breath and squeaked out an introduction.

"H-Hi...I'm R-Ruby...Ruby Rose...A-Are you a s-student here t-too?" She raised her hand towards him, quivering in fear. After a brief pause, the man raised his head revealing his sturdy face from behind his hat's edge. He had dark blue eyes and his gaze seemed to pierce right through Ruby. The man's hand slid from behind his long-coat as he raised it to meet Ruby's. He gently grasped the girl's hand and lightly shook it as he nodded, answering her question.

"Oh...good. I guess we'll...be seeing each other around...here...often..." Ruby awkwardly responded. She was still nervous, but after feeling the man's gentleness, she felt more confident.

"Umm...what's your, uh...w-who are you?" She hesitantly asked. The man's gaze began to lose it's intimidating prowess. He spoke with a moderately deeper voice that was slightly raspy.

"The name's Bradly, Bradly Smith. Folks know me as Gunslinger. I'm from Vale, the city that is."

"Well Mr. Smith." Ruby replied, as she snapped in to a more confident mood as the tension faded. "I'm Ruby Rose, from Patch."

"You already told him your name you Dolt." The girl of white mocked. Bradly's attention shot to her as she spoke. Their eyes met and immediately, she froze in place like a cornered rabbit in the presence of a hungry wolf pack.

"And who are you?" Bradly barked. "You've interrupted our conversation without introduction." Bradly's gaze shot straight through the girl as it did to Ruby, only with more intensity.

"W-Weiss...Schnee...h-heiress to...the Sh-Schnee...dust...c-company..." She was caught in the man's overwhelming presence again, unable to look away from his glare. The light around him seemed to dim as the image of his eyes burned in to her mind.

"What kid of weapon do you fight with?" Ruby asked, breaking the spell that locked the other girl in place that she was blissfully unaware of. Bradly smirked and returned his attention to Ruby as he dropped his rucksack. He was very fond of his weapons and was powerless to discuss them.

"I carry a pair of Smith and Wesson 357 magnum, long barrel revolvers." He pridefully explained. "They belonged to my grandfather, and likely his father before him. Would you care to see them?" His tone had become more menacing as he brought his hands to his waist, pushing his long-coat aside, revealing the holstered guns on either side of his hips. His head had dropped again, covering his eyes, leaving his sinister smile in view. Weiss had begun to regain her composure but was left still fearful of this strange man.

"I don't think that's a good idea Ru-." Weiss declared, motioning toward Ruby in attempt to remove them from Bradly's proximity but she was interrupted by the young girl who was completely ignorant of Bradly's threatening appearance.

"Sure! I'm also curious about your semblance. Oh, and after that I can show you Crescent Rose!" Ruby responded, bringing her weapon from her back and transforming it in to it's rifle state. Before her gun had entirely formed, Bradly drew both of his pistols aiming one at Weiss, and the other point-blank at the center of Ruby's head no more than an inch away. Weiss had frozen in place again, caught completely off guard while Ruby, after a brief moment of confusion had done the same. Both girls stood petrified. Ruby's eyes had first focused at the barrel of Bradly's gun then moved to meet his face after noticing a red glow coming from it. Bradly's pupils had widened exponentially so that the blue rings surrounding them had all but disappeared. They were replaced by a ring of what Ruby had thought resembled electricity, glowing a bright red. Within these rings, an intense red dot burned in the center like a laser making his eyes appear similar to a target. As she peered in to his demonic-like eyes, she saw the reflection of herself within the black of his pupils, the red dot fixed on the center of her head where the barrel of Bradly's gun was pointed. His expression shifted from sinister to calm but serious.

"If you want to see a glimpse of what I'm capable of, I have to know something of you Ruby." He said followed by a brief pause. "Can you trust me?" Bradly asked sincerely as he slowly pressed the end of his gun's barrel against Ruby's forehead. After a moment of silence that felt like hours to Ruby while she questioned the situation she was in, she nodded against Bradly's gun, shaking in fear. Weiss had been completely unable to move as her joints locked, terrified, wondering if this man whom she had just met would kill her or this innocent young girl. She wanted to scream or at least say something to make this man stop, but she wouldn't dare speak out of turn considering what happened last time. Bradly smiled joyfully.

"Good."

In a flash of movement, Ruby and Weiss's eyes widened as the explosion of Bradly's revolver released a bullet above the young girl's head sending it behind her, ricocheting off of a stone pillar. In an instant, Bradly began to thrash his arms about unleashing a barrage of bullets in all directions around the girl, emptying his guns of ammunition with the final shot aimed straight up in the air. The girls could hear the bullets bouncing off of objects all around the courtyard. From the stone walkway, trees, pillars, suitcases, and even the airships dropping off other students, bullets ricocheted back and fourth. Ruby and Weiss attempted to watch some of these bullets as they flew past but there were too many and they were all too fast. Bradly began calmly and slowly reloading his revolvers.

"My semblance allows me to see the trajectory of objects before they're given motion, so I can both determine the best direction and angle to fire my guns at as well as predict the movement of incoming projectiles and attacks. I call it Bulls-Eye" Bradly spoke nonchalantly. "It's one hundred percent accurate, however, I do tend to get quite the bit of eye strain if I over do it." He chuckled. "Now, I've just sent twelve bullets in twelve different directions all with the intentions of hitting you. I even predicted their path to hit you if you were to dodge in any direction." As he spoke he began to calmly walk over to Weiss's back until Ruby was behind her, and she avidly watched his every move turning to stay squared with him. "In other words, I've just killed her." Bradly explained to Weiss. Ruby winced in disbelief and slowly began backing away from Bradly however she halted in panic as she heard 2 bullets whiz passed her head, one after the other in different directions. Weiss felt sick, sure that she was about to witness the murder of a fellow student.

"But," Bradly continued as he bent down, lowering his face in front of Weiss's, mere inches away, locking their eyes once again. "She trusts me."

He smiled warmly, and after a split-second pause, Bradly snapped the revolving chambers of his guns back in place with the new ammunition locked and loaded. Without averting his eyes for even a moment, he began methodically firing his pistols in Ruby's direction. Each round he shot collided with the ricocheting bullets he had fired earlier as they flew towards the girl in their final flight path before impact, sending them off course and away from her. He sent three passed her head, two to her right, five to her left and one at the ground between her feet which bounced upwards and whisked through the material at the back of her skirt without touching it, lifting it briefly with the wind from the bullet then colliding with it's match. Pausing for a moment, the girls could no longer hear the sounds of ricocheting rounds and they both relaxed their tense bodies in relief. Ruby had been mesmerized by Bradly's incredible talent and became overjoyed after witnessing it as though she'd forgotten that she had been put in life-threatening peril. Bradly then smirked, proud of his trick, and left Weiss's space to return to Ruby so she could have a closer look at his vintage revolvers.

Weiss took a few moments to process what had just happened and compose herself as she felt like some choice words were due. However, after replaying the events in her head she had halted her lecturing about gun safety.

"Wait, you said you fired twelve bullets..." She explained as she became nervous again. "You only fired eleven bullets to counteract them." She began looking around to hopefully find the missing bullet in a hole somewhere, thinking that maybe it had been misfired. Bradly halted his conversation with Ruby once again and turned his attention to the heiress.

"Good eye Miss Schnee, but you don't need to look around for it." His menacing demeanor returned. "As I said, my accuracy is one hundred percent, so the last bullet is still intended to hit it's target. But, there's one things you never took in to account."

"And what's that?" Weiss snapped back, returning to her typical attitude.

"When I explained that the twelve bullets were aimed at 'you'," Bradly's gaze towards Weiss intensified. "I wasn't just talking to Ruby." Weiss immediately felt a strong sense of panic as she determined that the last bullet was meant for her. She began frantically looking around again, attempting to determine the bullet's flight path so that she might be able to dodge it. But fear again paralyzed her. Bradly walked back to Weiss and, once again, he bent down, placed his face in front of hers and smiled.

"Ruby trusts me, do you? He asked calmly. Weiss blushed slightly as the question caught her off guard.

"Uhh, well...I...don't-"

"Five" Bradly interrupted Weiss's stuttering and turned to walk away from her.

"Wait, what?"

"Four"

"Why are you-"

"Three" Weiss began panicking more and more.

"Well I...I..."

"Two"

"Wait, stop!" Weiss screamed, fearing for her life. Bradly halted, drew one of his pistols, and aimed it at Weiss's head. He looked back at her terrified face which now had tears streaming over her cheeks. Bradly's voice deepened with seriousness.

"One."

"YES I TRUST YOU!" Weiss shouted and, without hesitation, Bradly fired his pistol at the heiress. Weiss's eyes widened as her life flashed before her eyes. To her, time seemed to slow as she watched the flash of gunpowder from Bradly's pistol and the bullet he fired fly toward her. Weiss was sure that this round was aimed square at her forehead but as it came closer, she could tell that the bullet was aimed higher. The bullet passed over her hair with barely any room to spare, cutting a small strand that had come loose from her pony tail. The final bullet Bradly had fired straight up had been falling back down to the ground and it was aimed at the top of Weiss's head, but at a slower rate than when it was originally shot. This meant that the bullet couldn't be heard as it was now sub-sonic. The two bullets collided with a small explosion sending a shroud of sparks flying over Weiss before falling to the ground.

Bradly stood motionless with his smoking gun still aimed at Weiss, while echos of his gunfire cracked on in the distance. Weiss was in total shock over what had happened and collapsed to her knees in total disbelief. Ruby was ecstatic, both by the display of skill Bradly gave and how he silenced the girl who had been mocking and rudely lecturing her mere moments ago. Once the heiress fell, he twirled his revolvers on his trigger fingers and holstered them while turning his head aside to speak to Ruby.

"Was a pleasure meeting you girls." He said to Ruby as he tipped his hat and smiled. "I'll see ya 'round." Bradly bent over and picked up his rucksack, threw it over his shoulder and began walking towards the school. Ruby was awestruck, and for a short time, speechless until she began childishly bouncing around the barely conscious Weiss, excitedly recounting the prior events. Weiss was in total disarray, unable to mutter a single word. She stared blankly in to the distance, with the only thought on her mind being the image of Bradly's deadly stare.

"...he's so cool!" Ruby cried, ending her overzealous rant. "Hey-a Weiss...you ok?"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 – Collective Thinking

As the students made their way in to the school, they we instructed to convene within a large auditorium where they all met the school's headmaster, Professor Ozpin who made a...brief speech in regards to their future time at Beacon. The students were then lead in to another hall where they would later spend the night. Ruby had met back up with the blonde woman she had arrived with that morning and together they prepared for the night.

"So Ruby, make any friends yet?" The blonde asked after the two had changed in the their sleepwear and returned to the hall.

"Kinda, not really...I, more or less, uhh...blew up...literally. I also got shot at a bunch...so yea...not going well." The silver-eyed girl responded.

"Couldn't have been that catastrophic Rubes." The taller woman chuckled. As they walked along, Ruby had again become unaware of her surroundings and, yet again, accidentally stumbled in to Weiss. She was in a long gray-blue nightgown and had let her hair out of it's pony tail.

"You again?!" Both girls shouted simultaneously. Ruby then cowered behind the taller blonde to avoid Weiss.

"I'm guessing you two know each other?" The blonde asked Weiss.

"She caused an explosion that could have killed us!" Weiss snapped.

"Oh my god, you really exploded." The blonde spoke under her breath. "Well I'm Yang Xiao Long, Ruby's sister. Nice to meet you." She presented her hand to Weiss in greeting to which the heiress scoffed at and walked away. Yang placed her hand on the back of her head and awkwardly chuckled.

"I told you I'm no good at making friends!" Ruby cried. "Can I please just hang out with you?" Yang realized her sister was going to need all the help she could get and agreed. A familiar black figure had then walked in to the same room and proceeded through the room. This mass had caught Yang's attention.

"Hey, who's that? Think they're one of the teachers?" Yang was completely unaffected by the figures intimidating presence as other students moved out of it's way and averted their eyes. A group of larger, stronger looking male students watched on and gave the person harsh glares, silently challenging them. Their gaze was met by the dominating stare of the figure, and the group of boys backed down.

"Wait." Ruby said, recognizing the figure. "That's Bradly, I met him outside too. He's really cool! He shot a bunch of bullets at me but shot them out of the sky!" Bradly had made his way up to the two girls by then, spurs chiming as he walked. Yang's expression had become more stern after finding out that this man had put her sister in danger and as the two met, face to face, tension filled the room. The chatter of the other students died off as more and more became aware of the stand off and watched on curiously. Yang looked up at Bradly and their eyes clashed with one another once they met.

"So..." Yang spoke with a serious tone. "I hear you shot at my sister."

"He also...shot at Weiss, she nearly passed out. He didn't hit either of us though! I'm ok! He's really cool, he showed my his guns too. He's actually nice! Please don't fight him." Ruby had jumped in, trying to calm her angered sibling. Yang had held her ground, sizing up the larger man, maintaining her stance. Bradly simply stood motionless, returning Yang's glare awaiting what would happen next. Some students held their breath as the tension could blow out the walls of the room they were in. Then, suddenly, Yang snapped in to a friendly greeting.

"Well any friend of Ruby's is a friend of mine. I'm Yang, Ruby's sister. Nice to meet ya!" The blonde smiled, surprising everyone in the room except Bradly.

"Likewise, ma'am." Bradly responded, nodding in acknowledgment. He turned his attention to Ruby. "Hello again Ruby."

"Oh, hi!" Ruby squeaked, being caught off guard. Bradly then continued passed the girls as the tension in the room dissipated and chatter once again quietly resumed. He passed Weiss, who hadn't been far from the other girls. Bradly shot an intimidating glare at her which met Weiss's sight.

"Heiress." He smirked, sending his menacing vibe at her. Weiss froze, Bradly's eyes had penetrated her mind again as she relived the fear she felt that morning. Her knees became weak and buckled under her weight. She collapsed on to her make-shift bed, barely conscious. Yang and Ruby laughed at the white-haired girls failure to keep composed as Bradly continued off to a secluded, empty corner of the room where he dropped his rucksack and sat against the wall. Ruby and Yang had made their way back to their sleeping arrangements and began to settle in for the night as Ruby told Yang of Bradly's shooting skills she witnessed.

The next morning after breakfast, the students donned their combat outfits and retrieved their weapons from their lockers. They each made their way to a cliff-side, where Ozpin and a tall blonde teacher, known as Glynda Goodwitch, waited. Glynda had been the faculty member responsible for directing the students to the hall the previous night and gave them a brief introductory on their specialized rocket lockers that they could summon to their location at any time via their personal communication devices known as scrolls. Bradly had hidden the fact that he didn't own a scroll unlike all the other students, so he kept his revolvers hidden under his long-coat at all times.

When the students reached the cliff-side, Ozpin and Glynda had instructed them that this exercise was to determine a partner for each student. Their partner would be the first person they made eye contact with once landing and their objective was to retrieve a relic from within a ruin. A tall scraggly blonde boy nervously began questioning Ozpin and Glynda about how they were expected to land once being launched off the cliff as other students began taking flight. After pleading with the teachers for a moment, the boy was sent in to the air, with Weiss, Yang, Ruby and Bradly following behind. Yang used her gauntlet-like firearms to propel herself through the air, slowing her decent through the tree tops and rolling upon finding the ground. Ruby used the over-sized rifle/scythe combination and the recoil it's high-caliber rounds generated to slow her decent. Then used it's blade to hook on the tree trunks and spun to the ground. Bradly's long-coat acted like a wing suit and allowed him to glide a longer distance to which he aimed himself at a large tree. He aimed his pistols part way up the tree's base and began unleashing a barrage of bullets at it. The bullets blew pieces out of the tree's trunk until it fell in the same direction as Bradly's as he fell. He then spun his body around to fly feet first at the now downed tree and as his boots met the side of the tree, his spurs began to dig through the tree's bark slowing him as he traveled down the tree bringing him to a manageable speed once reaching the ground. He slid to a halt and swiftly reloaded his guns.

Yang had heard the crash of the falling tree near by and began worrying about her sister, so she hurried towards the noise calling out for Ruby. As Yang rushed to find her sister, she burst through some thick underbrush in to a small clearing made by the large toppled tree only to come face to face with the barrel of Bradly's pistol. He had heard the noise of Yang rushing through the bush and readied himself for a fight. Both students paused momentarily to assess the situation, before lowering their weapons relaxing. Bradly twirled his pistols on his trigger fingers as he holstered them.

"Hello again ma'am." Fancy finding you out here." Bradly spoke in a more friendly tone than the day before.

"Likewise. I guess that makes us partners" Yang chuckled. Remembering her intentions, she quickly changed the subject. "We need to find Ruby and make sure she's ok." Bradly nodded in agreement.

"There's only one thing stopping us ma'am." Bradly motioned toward the other side of the clearing where six Ursa had made their way to after hearing the crash and the commotion of the two students. Bradly and Yang looked back at each other and smirked as they both lunged toward the beasts.

Meanwhile, Ruby had ended up meeting with a familiar and not overly friendly white-haired heiress. The two argued for a while and Weiss had decided to abandon Ruby and move on however, Ruby instinctively followed. They argued more and more until they came upon a small pack of beowolves. The two girls engaged the monsters but without the will to work together, they became a danger to one another which caused Weiss to start part of the forest on fire with her weapon. She wielded an elegant rapier with a revolver like chamber in it's hilt to which dust was stored which could be released to give her weapon's blade elemental enhancements. After the beowolves were dispatched and an argument about getting in each others way, the two set off in to the forest, hopefully lost.

Yang and Bradly had found their way to a large clearing to which they located an ancient ruin. Within, they found black and gold colored chess pieces.

"These must by the relics Ozpin was talking about." Yang declared as she picked up a "Knight" piece. Just as she obtains the relic, a loud scream and powerful rumble explodes over the clearing. The blonde nervous boy from the launch pad was clinging to the tail of a deathstalker, a large and heavily armored grim that resembles a scorpion. The boy clung to the deathstalkers tail for dear life while a tall red-haired girl clad in brass armor attempted to fight the armored grim. A screech from above rang out over the clearing as a nevermore, a large bird-like grim flew overhead. Mounted atop the flying beast was Ruby and Weiss, somehow they managed to climb on it it and ride it to find everyone else. Ruby decided to jump from it while Weiss protested, not realizing that Ruby had already left. As Ruby fell to the ground to meet up with the other students, Weiss had begun to lose her grip on the bird's feathers and soon fell. As she fell, Bradly had reacted and sprinted at the heiress, lunging and catching her before striking the ground.

"My hero." Weiss joked once she gained her composure as the two got up from the ground. Yang had become angered from the commotion and activated her semblance which felt like an explosion. Her hair seemed to ignite in to burning flames and her eyes turned a vivid shade of red. She joined the rest of the students as another pair had entered the clearing, one, a gleeful orange haired girl dressed in a white shirt and pink skirt riding atop an ursa, followed by her partner, a slim man with longer black hair, a green classic Asian-styled top, with cream colored pants. Once the pair reached the clearing, the ursa dropped dead, as the girl hopped off. The blonde man and red haired girl seemed to know the new addition to the group as they exchanged waves of their hands when they noticed one another. Ruby charged the deathstalker alone, however, her attacks were ineffective against it's strong armor. The deathstalker motions to counter-attack Ruby by thrust it's stinger at the young girl. Yang began to run at her sister, unable to reach her, when suddenly Weiss shot passed the blonde with blinding speed and using ice dust, she freezes the deathstalker's tail in place, saving Ruby. They reconvened with the other six students and, together, decided that the best plan of action would be to seize the remaining artifacts and flee the valley.

The eight students were chased relentlessly in to the ruins by the massive creatures. As they fled, they ran across a bridge over a deep ravine, and once the deathstalker caught up, it prevented them from returning to solid ground. The nevermore swooped down from the sky and bashed in to the bridge ahead of the leading students trapping them one the stone walkway. The situation began to look bleak as the trailing students struggled to keep the deathstalker at bay. The blonde man had realized this and shouted at the orange-haired girl to help. She transformed her weapon, which was a compact grenade launcher, in to a large hammer to which she placed the head of on the ground, stepped on to it and fired it's launching mechanism which sent her flying towards the preoccupied deathstalker. She swung her hammer as she reached it's head and slammed it in to the ground then jumped out of stinging range. Ruby, Weiss, Bradly, and Yang all began devising a plan to deal with the nevermore as the other students battled the deathstalker. The blonde and redhead ran at the monster's pincers forcing them apart while the man in green climbed it's body and grabbed hold of the stinger. He began firing his weapons, green pistols with curved blades covering the grips, at the base of the stinger which caused the deathstalker to writhe in pain. It swung it's massive tail about, throwing the man off and in to a wall. The blonde noticed the deathstalker's stinger had loosened off of the tail and swung aboutand he mentioned to the armor-clad girl to sever the remaining amount. Once the girl sliced off the stinger, it fell on to the beast's head, impaling it. The blonde then instructed the other girl to strike the singer with her hammer, forcing it deep in to the monster's cranium, finally killing it.

Yang shot a number of rounds at the flying grim, securing it's attention on her. When the bird flew down in attempt to bit her with it's beak, Yang had halted it's closure and began feeding shots down the throat of the beast injuring it greatly. She then lost her grip as the bird shook her free, she landed on a nearby tower and began providing cover fire for the other three.

"Any ideas on how to take it down?" Weiss asked Ruby. Unsure of how to defeat such a large creature.

"Just one, and it's crazy." The younger girl responded with determination driving her. Along side her weapon, Weiss was also able to use magic. She forms what are called glyphs which can vary in their uses. Ruby's plan consisted of Weiss forming a glyph to hold a large stone to which Ruby mounted. Bradly was to fire as many bullets in to the bottom of the stone as possible which would also get trapped in the glyph but retain their kinetic energy. Once finished, Weiss was to release the glyph causing all the bullets to continue their path in to the stone all at once, launching it forward like a canon at the nevermore with Ruby riding along.

"Think you can make the shot?" Ruby asked Weiss as the angle to which Ruby would be sent depended on Weiss's magic glyph. Weiss scoffed at the question, believing it to be sarcasm.

"Well can you?" Ruby repeated, thoroughly unsure if Weiss was capable.

"Of course!" Weiss snapped back, offended at Ruby questioning her capabilities.

"Alright Bradly, let it rip." Ruby commanded as Bradly nodded accepting her word. Bradly let out a long breath focusing his concentration. He hovered his hands above his holstered weapons preparing to unleash a hell-storm of lead. Like a flash of lightning, Bradly unleashed his barrage of ammunition at the base of the stone, spinning his pistols about while moving his hands in multiple directions to control the force of the recoil. As he expended the rounds of his pistols, in the same swift motion, he unlocked the revolving chamber from the guns, cleared the spent shells, slid a fast loading capsule from within his jacket sleeves and reloaded the pistols while continuing his assault. This magnificent juggle of weapons and ammunition continued until Bradly's arms grew too tired to continue even though it only lasted about six seconds. Standing nearby, Weiss had watched Bradly's impressive demonstration of coordination and could head the faint sound of his voice as he quietly called out the odd bullet count. Weiss had begun to lose concentration as she was mesmerized by his dance, and her glyph had become unstable.

"Weiss, concentrate!" Ruby barked as she felt the stone shift slightly from the weakening magic. Weiss snapped back to the task at hand, embarrassed to find herself admiring the man beside her. Bradly had noticed and shot a glance and smirk Weiss's way. Bradly couldn't stand the pain in his tired arms any longer and emptied his guns a final time.

"...one hundred twenty. That's all I've got, now or never." Bradly proclaimed, speaking his final bullet count only to further impress the heiress.

"Fire!" Ruby shouted as Weiss ended her spell. The mass of lead below the stone shot forward in a large group like a canon ball sending the young girl and the stone rocketing toward the flying grim. As she flew, Ruby fired her weapon backwards, increasing her velocity until she met the bird. She caught the nevermore's neck in the blade of her Crescent Rose dragging the monster with her as she flew through the air. Ruby then planted her feet on the wall of the cliff she had Weiss aim at as the forces from her flight pinned her against it momentarily. Weiss then placed a number of other glyphs on the wall at Ruby's feet leading up to it's summit. Ruby was able to run up the wall, dragging the large bird in the stone behind her as she gained speed. Finally with the final shot ringing out from her rifle's barrel, Ruby exploded over the crest of the stone mound slicing her blade through the bird's neck, then landing at top the cliffs edge overlooking the battlefield at the students witnessing her strength.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 – A Shoulder to Cry On

Exhausted but triumphant, the students returned to the school, artifacts in hand feeling a sense of accomplishment. Ruby and Weiss had decided to grab the other "Knight" chess piece since Bradly and Yang had taken the first one, while the other two pairs obtained the two "Rook" pieces. Together, the eight men and women entered the main auditorium of Beacon Academy where a number of other students and faculty were already in attendance. Professor Ozpin made his way on stage to a microphone to announce the success of the initiation program as the final students entered the room.

"Congratulations everyone, for succeeding in your initiation. The objective of this test was to, not only prove your skills and capability, but to also determine the four person teams you will work with for the remainder of your time here at Beacon." The headmaster then began listing off the names of students within their teams as well as naming the leader of the group. "...Cardin Winchester, Russel Thrush, Dove Bronzewing, and Sky Lark forming Team CRDL _(pronounced Cardinal)_, lead by Cardin Winchester." Ozpin continued. "Next, Jaune Arc, Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie, and Lie Ren forming Team JNPR _(pronounced __Juniper__)_." The other four students from the fight were called, each brightening with excitement as their names where called. "...lead by Jaune Arc." The blonde man became nervous and awkwardly smiled at the congratulations from his peers. "And finally, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Bradly Smith, and Yang Xiao Long forming Team RWBY _(pronounced __Ruby__)_, lead by Ruby Rose." Ozpin finished his list, pausing to allow the cheers of the student to end. "It seems this year will be interesting." The headmaster then stepped back from the microphone to allow Glynda to address the students for the following evening.

"Students, please stay here with your team members as a faculty member will escort you to your new dormitories. Your personal belongings have already been delivered, class will begin tomorrow morning. Please check your scrolls for you schedules as should be receiving them momentarily." The blonde woman spoke calmly and sternly with the expression of and unwillingness to repeat herself. An older male student approached Team RWBY and greeted them, instructing them to follow him to which the four obliged. As they traveled through the corridors of the school, Team Juniper had been led behind until the two teams were halted in front of doors opposite each other at the end of a hallway.

"Looks like we'll be seeing more of you guys around." Yang joked at the other team.

"Here we are, take care everyone." The two older students gave their best wishes and took their leave as the two teams entered their dorms for the evening. The dorm was simple and just large enough for the four supplied beds evenly spaced within the room, pushed head first against a wall with a large round window in the center. To the right of the beds near the front of the room was another door which led to a bathroom.

"This is pretty nice." Ruby claimed, humbly.

"Yea, not bad." Yang responded.

"Wait, are we supposed to share not only a room but a bathroom with Bradly?" Weiss asked the other girls feeling a little self-conscious.

"Why not? He's cool." Yang gave Bradly a friendly nudge. Weiss stared at the taller man, lacking in trust of him.

"If you're going to be staying in a room with me, then I don't want any funny business. Keep your hands to yourself and stay out of my clothes!" Weiss scowled at Bradly, raising a finger at him as she spoke. Bradly maintained at blank expression as he endured Weiss's lecture as he stood motionless. When the girl finished her rant, he simply let out a brief sigh and responded sincerely.

"With all due respect ma'am, you don't need to be suspicious of me." Bradly then began to approach Weiss. "I'm a lot of bad things, but a pervert isn't one of them." His eyes locked with Weiss's as he spoke, but this time, instead of feeling fear, Bradly's gaze seemed much more calm. Weiss felt that she may have hurt him somewhat by making her assumptions. Bradly continued his short trek forward passed the heiress, towards the bed in the far right corner of the room. He sat on the bed, removed his boots and then outstretched his legs while reclining against the back wall, tipping his hat which hid his face. Weiss, Ruby and Yang stood awkwardly in the doorway silently watching Bradly as Weiss contemplated her choice of words.

"Well...al-alright then, good." She stammered. Hesitant to say anything more.

"And that's why people call you 'Ice Queen.'" Yang joked under her breath as she dropped her head and walked further in to the room, choosing a bed herself beside Bradly's. Yang had to step over Bradly's boots to get to the side of her bed as there wasn't much space in between them. "It's kinda cramped in here, you know?" Yang mentioned to the others as she sat on her bed. Ruby and Weiss looked over the room and began brainstorming ways to more efficiently arrange their beds.

"We could push them against the side walls." Weiss offered her idea motioning to the opposite walls. After a short pause of thinking, Ruby excitedly jumped to the center of the room.

"I've got it!" She proclaimed. "Bunk beds!" Her eyes lit up as she expressed her idea.

"Bunk beds?" Weiss asked, not sure if she understood Ruby. Bradly tipped his hat up in curiosity.

"That would free up a lot of space." Yang backed Ruby's plan. "I'm down." Yang stood and pounded a fist in to her other hand with determination.

"That's ridiculous! We aren't little kids!" Weiss scoffed in denial of the idea. "Besides, it's not like these beds could even function as bunks." Yang and Ruby looked at each other with mischievous smiles and in a flash, began whizzing back and fourth around the room reorganizing everything that wasn't bolted down. Before Weiss knew could understand what was happening, the two sisters had finished their creation. Yang had propped her bed above Bradly's using metal ammo crates that he had sent to the school before arriving. Ruby had taken one of the other beds and suspended it from the ceiling using rope which she had obtained from who-knows-where and hung a sheet above it like a child would make a fort. With stars in her eyes, Ruby finally declared the dorm worthy to house Team RWBY as she jumped up to her bed.

"And now, for our next action as Team-" Ruby had lost consciousness before completing her sentence as she had exhausted the last of her energy during her frenzy.

Yang chuckled. "I suppose it is getting late. I'm going to have a shower." She walked in to the bathroom, closing the door behind her leaving Weiss and Bradly to be the only two remaining conscious people in the room. Weiss felt awkward again, remembering Bradly's response to her earlier. She shyly walked over to her bed under Ruby's and sat facing the resting man who hadn't budged during the reconstruction of the room around him. Weiss couldn't take the feeling of guilt welling up inside her anymore so she hung her head low and swallowed her pride.

"I'm sorry, ok? I-I didn't mean what I said...in the way that I said it." Weiss was nearly choking on her own words, feeling upset at herself for being so rude. She then lifted her head to watch for Bradly's response. After a pause that felt like an eternity for Weiss, Bradly tilted his head up and looked out passed the rim of his hat at the girl sitting across from him. The same neutral expression was still written across his face as he eyed her. After seeing the same look on Bradly's face, Weiss hung her head in shame feeling the guilt burn in her mind as she sat quietly.

"It's fine Weiss." Bradly broke the silence. "As I said, I'm a lot of bad things, but a pervert isn't one. You won't have a problem with me."He then tipped his head back down, hiding his face from sight once more.

"That's not what I mean." Weiss replied, he voice was shaky and distraught. Light tears began to roll down her cheeks, dripping off of her chin and falling to her lap. "I sometimes say things, and they come out sounding harsh and cold, and I don't know why, but I do, and I felt like, I hurt you, and I didn't mean to. I'm sorry!" Weiss spoke through her tears which were increasing and getting larger. Bradly raise his head once more once he understood how upset the heiress was at the situation. Although he donned a tough exterior, Bradly couldn't stand seeing people he knew cry. He sat up on the edge of his bed and stood facing the weeping girl. He gently motioned across the room and set beside Weiss, then, gently wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in to his embrace. Weiss's sobbing immediately halted, surprised at his actions.

_How could a man this tough and rugged be so sweet and caring?_ She thought to herself. However she quickly disregarded the question and melted in to Bradly's arms, not wanting to fall for the same ideas she fell for earlier. Bradly released Weiss and placed his hand on her shoulders as she sat back upright while drying what was left of her tears.

"I've heard much worse insults in my life ma'am, I've learned not to let things get to me so easily. In my eyes, negative words carry no merit because they aren't spoken from the heart." Bradly's words of wisdom struck deep within Weiss's mind, allowing the light flow of tears to continue to pour from her eye. She looked up at the man sat beside her, as her misty eyes met his. Instead of a blank, cold stare or intimidating glare, she found a warm and inviting face smiling at her as though to say everything was alright. Weiss's feelings of guilt and regret faded and she smiled back at Bradly. Knowing she would be alright, Bradly dropped his hands from her shoulders and placed them on his lap. Now calmed, and tears halted, Weiss leaned to her side to rest her head against Bradly's shoulder. Surprised, Bradly pulled his arm out of Weiss's way causing her head to rest against his upper chest. He then placed his arm over her back and left his hand on her opposite shoulder to embrace her. The two sat in silent bliss, comforted by each others presence.

"Thank you, Bradly. It's been a while since someone's actually been nice to me. Although, I'm probably to blame for that." Weiss retracted, feeling a sense of self-pity.

"I think it's because they don't know the real you." Bradly Responded. Weiss brought her head up again, bringing Bradly's face in to view.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"I think you're not the cold and cruel 'Ice Queen' everyone thinks you are. I think, deep down, you're just like everyone else, only, you're fed up with the negativity everyone spouts these days."

"Hmm...maybe."

"I think, you just want to be Weiss." Bradly looked down at the wide-eyed heiress and smiled comfortingly. Bradly's words struck Weiss's heart in ways she hadn't felt before with anyone. His deep blue eyes warmly comforted her as she returned the smile with an even larger one, glad that she had met a person as kind as Bradly. He then dropped his arm from Weiss's back and motioned to stand as she leaned away from him, caught off guard from his sudden movement. She watched as Bradly stood and began moving back across the room. He looked back at her over his shoulder and continued speaking. "Keep moving forward Weiss, don't let things like regret hold you back." Bradly lowered himself back on to his bed and returned to his relaxed position moments before the door to the bathroom opened.

Yang had finished her shower and returned to the dorm wearing her sleepwear, a yellow tank top and black undershorts, while meticulously drying her hair with her towel. She inspected the room and noticed Weiss staring at Bradly with the same warm smile she wore during their conversation. Seeing Bradly in the same location and position he was in before her shower, Yang believed that Bradly was asleep and thought it was a golden opportunity to have some fun with Weiss.

"Like what you see there Ice Queen? He is kinda hot, in a tough bad-boy sort of way." Yang chuckled as she winked at the other girl. Weiss panicked, knowing Bradly was well awake and in complete earshot of Yang's remarks. Her cheeks turned a deep shade of red and her jaw dropped, unable to form coherent words. Instead, she squeaked a few noises and froze in place out of embarrassment.

Yang laughed, "Well I'm not sure if he's single or not, wouldn't be difficult to find out though." Weiss felt like her heart had stopped out of embarrassment but quickly snapped out of her daze, quickly stood and wheeled a suitcase from the foot of her bed in to the bathroom in a huff. Yang laughed harder and climbed on to her bunk as she closed the door behind her. Weiss unpacked some products from her suitcase, including some high-end makeup which she placed in a drawer under the vanity. She prepared her sleeping gown and started the shower for herself, undressed and entered the warm water stream. After wetting it, she began stroking her hair, weeding out any knots from the long day. However, Weiss soon became lost in her own thoughts, repeating her conversation with Bradly in her head over and over. His words struck chords in her mind and heart as they played in her mind.

_What was I feeling? Why did I feel so...so...peaceful? I was happy but, it felt more than just happy… _Weiss stood under the running water questioning her own emotions. She felt agitated, frustrated with her misunderstanding of her thoughts. She briskly washed up and exited the shower, putting her nightgown and underwear on, and returning to the dorm room where she found Yang now fast asleep, Ruby still out cold and Bradly suspiciously in the same position as she left him in. She watched him as she moved to her bed, returning her suitcase to the pile of others she had, and climbing in to bed. She laid on her side, peering over at the motionless man that was captivating her thoughts. She stared blankly at him, still unsure of her own thoughts until eventually she drifted asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello everyone! I figured it was about time I finally addressed my ****readers. This AU, OC story of mine popped in to my head one day at work and wouldn't leave my mind so I decided to put it all down on paper...er, text, I suppose. As you've probably already noticed by getting this far, my character, Bradly, replaces Blake within team RWBY. For the record, I don't dislike, Blake, this is just how the story transpired in my head so I went with it (She may make an appearance later on). Anyway, I'm new to writing so please let me know if you find any inconsistencies or errors. I spellcheck vigilantly but I'm not perfect and my story very closely follows the original 'RWBY' story (so far), so by all means, send me a PM about anything in need of correction or even some feedback. I'm willing to answer any questions you may have as well. Thanks, and happy reading!**

Chapter 4 - Stalemate

The next morning, Team RWBY found themselves waking to the soothing sound of...a blaring whistle blown by a certain young huntress in training. Yang stuck her arm in the air from her sleeping position.

"Five more minutes." She croaked.

"Not a chance, we've got a big day ahead of us! Come on, wake-y wake-y!" Ruby fired back, blowing her whistle once again.

"Would you quit that infernal noise!" Weiss demanded, groggily sitting up and rubbing her eyes. Weiss stepped out of bed as Yang slowly crawled her way down from the top bunk. As she reached the floor, she looked in at Bradly's bed expecting to find him still asleep but instead found him absent.

"Where's Bradly?" She asked the other girls. Weiss looked over at where he should have been in confusion.

"Dunno, wasn't here when I woke up." Ruby nonchalantly responded. "I'm sure we'll find him later. Come on! We're gonna miss breakfast!" The two freshly woken girls dressed themselves in the supplied school uniforms Ruby had discovered in a wardrobe near the door, and after preparing their hair and makeup, the three headed off to the cafeteria. In the large room, they found many other students already eating their meals and chatting. The girls lined up at the buffet, grabbed themselves a tray and plated their preferred food. When they were satisfied with their choices, they turned their attention to the many tables within the room. Filled with students, choices for seating were slim at best until Ruby spied a mostly empty table in the distance near a corner of the room with a familiar, darkly clothed person sitting alone. Weiss and Yang followed the younger girl to the table and sat along side their teammate. Yang sat beside him with Ruby and Weiss their opposite.

"There you are, where'd you take off to this morning?" Yang asked as she sat.

"I figured you ladies would prefer your privacy to get ready. Besides, I didn't want to hang around the dorm for the few hours before you all woke up anyway, so I decided to explore the school a bit." Bradly spoke with his typical neutral tone, staring blankly at the cup of black coffee he grasped on the table. Still not used to the way he talked so emotionless, the three girls sat awkwardly beginning to pick at their food.

"Oh...cool. Uhh, did you eat already?" Ruby asked, trying to break the forming tension with light conversation.

"Yes, I ended up here just as the kitchen staff had begun preparing for breakfast so I managed to dish up before anyone else had shown up."

_How long has he been up for? _Yang asked herself while munching on a piece of toast after hearing Bradly.

"Good, you'll...uhh, need you energy for...class." Ruby uncomfortably responded. Bradly looked up from his coffee and caught the sight of the heiress in front of him who hadn't taken her eyes off him since they sat down.

"What are you girls wearing?" Bradly asked. Weiss shyly looked down at her food once she caught a glimpse of Bradly's eyes.

"School uniforms, everyone wears them- except you. Why didn't you put yours on?" Ruby nervously asked.

"Not my thing, uniforms. No one's the same, so why look like we are?" Bradly answered, shrugging his shoulders.

"The teachers might give you trouble showing up in class without it." Ruby mumbled with a mouth full of scrambled eggs looking over at him. Bradly shot a menacing glare at Ruby.

"I'd like to see them try." he scowled. Ruby halted her chewing after hearing his response before swallowing hard. The whole table froze and Weiss became fearful of Bradly, remembering the same hardened tone Bradly used when they first met. Yang sensed the spike in tension and saw how Weiss reacted to it, contradicting what she witnessed the night before in the dorm. Yang was about to speak when both Ruby and Bradly begun chuckling at the comment he gave. Yang was very surprised at how well the two seemed to get along now.

"Well Rubes, seems like you're not as bad at making friends as you thought." Yang snickered, nervous at first. Ruby snickered at Yang's comment and looked over at Bradly, she smiled, glad that she had, in fact, made an actual friend. Weiss regained her composure and the team finished off their breakfast while Bradly sipped at his coffee. After the group laughed at one of Yang's many jokes, Weiss decided to check the time on her scroll. She gasped in horror when she read her device's clock.

"We need to leave now! Class starts in 3 minutes!" She wailed, jumping out of her seat. The other girls panicked and followed suit while Bradly nonchalantly stood up and walked after them. The girls ran to class, entering through the door mere seconds before the bell rang, signifying the start of class. Team JNPR waved and signaled for the girls to take the seats just in front of them at the front of the class to which the girls rushed over to. The teacher, an older, heavier built man with a large white mustache stepped to the front of the room and began calming the students to begin the lecture. Just before he began to speak, Bradly calmly walked in to the room and moved toward his team mates.

"Excuse me, young man. The bell has already rang and class has begun. Why were you not here sooner?" The teacher asked with a prideful demeanor.

"Cards weren't dealt in my favor, I suppose." Bradly responded.

"Well seeing as this is the first day, I'm willing to overlook it. Please take your seat. And where is your uniform?"

Bradly sat at the end of the row of seats next to Ruby. "Probably back in my dorm." He replied. Some students began murmuring over witnessing his defiance. The teacher scrunched his nose.

"Young man, there is a dress code at this school and you are expected to follow i-" Bradly cut the teacher's declaration short.

"And? The clothes you wear don't define the person you are, so what does it matter?" A few students gasped and the murmuring heightened.

"Am I required to send you to speak with Professor Ozpin over this matter?"

"Only if you really want to sir. Either way, it would get class started quicker. After all, I thought we were here to learn, not discuss fashion." The room had gone silent, awaiting to see the teacher's reaction to Bradly's defiance.

"What are you doing?" Ruby whispered to Bradly. All three members of his team had an expression of concern, shock, and embarrassment written upon their faces as they stared at him. The teacher's face had become red with anger and barked out an order to Bradly to see Professor Ozpin. Bradly sighed, casually got out of his chair and walked out of the room with every pair of eyes in the class fixated on him. As Bradly left, Ruby collapsed on the desk, Weiss hid her face within her hands and Yang simply rolled her eyes and returned her attention to the teacher who had sourly began addressing the class.

Bradly walked down the halls of the school towards it's core. Other students who traveled opposite his direction would stand aside and nervously stare at Bradly as he passed. Once at his destination, Bradly boarded an elevator and rode it to the top floor, Professor Ozpin's office. Once inside, Ozpin was sitting at his desk, awaiting Bradly's appearance.

"So I hear you've had a rough first day so far." Ozpin began the conversation calmly.

"Mine has been fine, seems as though others wish to change that however." Bradly replied, approaching the head masters desk and sitting in a chair before him.

"He is right though, we do have a dress code and all students are supposed to oblige. Do you find their style to be, not of your taste?"

"They're fine, I prefer my own clothes though. Ones I worked for myself."

"I see. You also know students are supposed to keep their weapons stored in school lockers, so why do you keep yours at your side? Expecting a fight?" Ozpin had somehow noticed Bradly's pistols at his sides from under his jacket. Bradly maintained his neutral expression.

"Never know when you'll need them in this world."

"I couldn't agree more Mr. Smith, however, the lockers do respond to summons from your scroll. I assume Professor Goodwitch explained this to-" Bradly had become slightly bothered at Ozpin.

"Well that's all fine and dandy for those who have one, given to them by mommy and daddy so they could make sure their little baby is doing well." Bradly had become more agitated than he would normally allow himself to be, but this subject had struck a raw nerve.

"Hmm, so you don't have a scroll. Unable to summon the locker, you feel it's safer to simply keep your firearms on you at all times." Ozpin had reached in to a drawer of his desk and pulled out an older black scroll and placed it in front of Bradly. "Here is a school issued one, it's not a gift, but merely a tool so that the faculty can reach you in case of emergency. It should be used as communication with your team should you be separated as well." Bradly hung his head and reluctantly accepted the scroll sliding it in to an inner pocket of his jacket. "Now, as for dress code."

"Forget it" Bradly snapped. Ozpin paused for a moment to assess the man facing him before standing, bringing a cup of coffee with him. He walked slowly to the side of his desk, taking a sip from his mug.

"Perhaps we can make a deal."

"I'm listening." Bradly reclined in his chair, resting his feet against the bottom of Ozpin's desk.

"You don't seem the type who likes starting fights, nor do you seem the type to be the first to, 'jump the gun,' so to speak..." Ozpin paused

"Go on."

"So here's what I propose, I'll allow you to keep your pistols at your side throughout the day on the promise that you'll wear the school uniform."

"Only if I get to keep my boots, hat, and jacket." Bradly responded sharply. Ozpin thought for a moment.

"I can over look your hat and boots, and you'll need your jacket to conceal your guns. Keep in mind though, no one is to know that you have them on you and you are prohibited from drawing them unless someone's life is in danger." Ozpin spoke more sternly, finalizing his offer. Bradly stood up from his chair and approached Ozpin directly, standing face to face with him. The two men were similar in height and both wore a serious expression across their faces. Bradly raised his hand to Ozpin, awaiting a gentleman's agreement to which Ozpin responded by grasping and shaking firmly.

"Well alright then, I'll be sure to wear my school uniform from here on out...starting tomorrow that is." Bradly smirked as he turned from Ozpin to leave his office.

"I'll escort you back to class, that way there won't be any issues regarding your instructor." Ozpin began following Bradly to the elevator that would take them back to the ground floor. Bradly rolled his eyes and continued toward it. The two men traveled together in silence back to Bradly's class where the teacher was shocked to see Professor Ozpin and less than thrilled to see Bradly return. He had written his name on the whiteboard for the class, Professor Port.

"I believe it's safe to assume that you straightened this, rapscallion, out?" Professor Port asked Ozpin gleefully.

"Mr. Smith has been excused from wearing his uniform for the day. It seems as though there was a mistake and he had not received one this morning. One will be sent out for him and he will be properly dressed for tomorrow." Ozpin then began speaking closer to Professor Port so that others would not hear their discussion. Professor Port scrunched his nose at receiving Ozpin's word but nodded in agreement and reluctantly went on with class. Bradly met up with the rest of his team who were shocked at his return, and sat back down in his seat along side his leader who seemed to have just woken up from a nap.

"What happened?" Weiss whispered to him.

"I'll tell you later." Bradly responded, giving his attention to Professor Port who was now returning to the lecture.

After class, the female members of Team RWBY were persistent in their attempts to learn what happened with Bradly and Professor Ozpin. Bradly quietly explained the deal he had made with Ozpin, leaving out the detail of him not owning a scroll. Ruby and Yang were quite impressed with Bradly, Weiss however, was not. She was crossed at how he embarrassed the entire team and could have been thrown out of class for good.

"Trust me Weiss, I'm not going anywhere." Bradly retorted. The group was met by Team JNPR who said most of the students in class were talking about how badass Bradly was for standing up to the teacher.

"Really?" Bradly questioned. He looked around at some of the other students from class that were passing by. Some gave a thumbs up and smiled, and a few of the female students flirtatiously waved or blushed at him. Bradly smiled, shocked at their response to his behavior, and tipped his hat in acknowledgment. Weiss became huffy with jealousy and angrily mentioned that they need to get to their next class. As they arrived, they were met by a slender man with green hair. He wore a white shirt that was poorly tucked in to his pants and thick, round glasses.

"Greetings children, please take your seats." He spoke sharp and quickly, eyeing each student as they walked in, paying particularly close attention to Bradly.

"Ozpin already pardoned my-" Bradly abruptly stated but was cut off by the fast-paced man.

"Uniform, yes. I'm aware. Clothing is not of my concern when there's knowledge to be taught!" The man rambled quickly followed by a brief sip from a mug of coffee he carried. As the final students found their seats, the bell chimed signaling the start of class. The instant the bell ceased, the green-haired man began quickly speaking an introduction.

"Greetings everyone, I am your teacher for the semester, Doctor Ooblek. Nice to meet you. Before we get to today's lesson, does anyone have any questions about the class?"

"Um, hi, yea. Quick question. What is this class again?" Jaune had spoken up.

"Why, history, my dear boy. Did you not read the schedule?" Doctor Ooblek responded. Jaune groaned, still half asleep from the previous class.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 – Battle Scars

After surviving another brutally boring lecture, Teams RWBY and JNPR both congregated in the cafeteria for lunch. They each plated a respectable amount, except for Nora. She had piled a mass of food on to one tray, enough to feed a dozen people. Ren assured everyone that this was normal and to just let it happen.

"Was that why there were no pancakes left this morning?" Jaune asked.

Bradly nodded in response."Saw it with my own eyes, and they don't lie." The group of students chuckled and started eating. As the two teams merrily conversed and joked about, Jaune noticed a bit of commotion a few tables down. A large man, who Jaune recognized as Cardin Winchester from the initiation ceremony, was teasing a girl about the rabbit-like ears that grew from the top of her head. Throughout the world there are people with these animal-like features. They are known as Faunus. Although they tend to live harmoniously with humans, some humans think lesser of them and berate and mock them. Some go so far as to drive them out of villages or ban them from stores. Cardin bullied this girl relentlessly, pulling at her ears claiming that they must be fake and stealing her lunch away from her. This bother Jaune greatly, and his teammate Pyrrha took notice.

"People who treat others like that make me sick." She claimed.

"Yea, they serve no purpose other than to make others feel bad." Jaune responded. "I just with there was something we could do." Jaune felt useless as he wasn't brave enough to face the large man and he returned his attention to the table in front of him. Pyrrha believed something had to be done and was about to get up and confront Cardin until Jaune spoke out.

"Hey, Bradly! You're a big tough guy right? Could you go tell that Cardin guy off?" Jaune asked enthusiastically. Bradly looked over at the man and his smaller teammates as they continued to harass the faunus girl momentarily before returning to his meal.

"The situation doesn't concern us." Bradly replied reluctantly. He was no fan of the mistreatment of others but remembered Ozpin's deal he had made and held himself back.

"C'mon, she's helpless to them. What if she gets hurt?" Jaune persisted. "I'd do it but...I'm no match for a guy like that." Jaune pitied himself. Bradly paused and placed his utensils on the table. He knew he had to play by the rules but couldn't help the call of someone in need. Bradly stood swiftly and began making his way to the girls rescue.

_Ozpin said I can't pick fights, never said anything about defending myself. Just no guns. No problem Oz. _Bradly thought to himself. He planned on making Cardin throw the first punch in order to justify a fight and claim it as self-defense. As Bradly approached the group of men, one of the other members of Team CRDL spotted him and brought it to Cardin's attention. He then release the faunus girl's ear and set his sights on Bradly.

"Look what we've got here. Mr. Tough-guy." Cardin jested. "You seem to be making yourself known around here. I could use a friend like you." Bradly shot a cold gaze at Cardin as the larger man sized him up. Cardin stood a fair amount taller than Bradly who was only six feet tall. "What do you say, cowboy?" Bradly ignored Cardin's mockery and spoke calmly.

"I've met a fair amount of men like you over my short life, Cardin. Not quite as dumb, but just as full of themselves. Now, self-confidence is an important thing but boasting too much can cause problems, at least, that's what I've seen."

"Really, and what problems did it cause them, partner?" Cardin continued to mock.

"Well, me, for one."

Cardin and his squad laughed. "Is that right? And what did you to cause them trouble? Sing them a country song? Steal their horse? No, wait. I know." Cardin reached out to Bradly's head and picked up his hat, placing it on his own head. "You took their hat." Once Cardin fixed Bradly's hat upon his head, he returned his sight to Bradly who sported a furious expression.

"No, Cardin much worse. I threw them in a hole." Cardin burst out laughing again.

"That's it? You put them in a little hole?"

"Yeah, only that was after they scraped up what body parts they could find, put them in a wooden box, and lowered it six feet below the ground." As Bradly angrily explained his story, he activated his semblance which shot fear in to Cardin like a bullet. Shocked and scared, Cardin instinctively swung his right fist at Bradly's face. Bradly saw the attack coming and raised his left hand, catching the strike from the larger man. He then gripped Cardin's fist tightly and bent his wrist backward, causing a loud crack to be heard nearby to come from it. Cardin groaned in pain and dropped to his knee under the force of Bradly's hand, then with his free hand, Bradly reached out to Cardin's head. Cardin saw Bradly's hand move and he flinched, awaiting to be struck but instead felt the hat leave his head. After replacing his hat on his head, Bradly continued speaking.

"I'm also not fond of those who steal for no reason." He then pushed against Cardin's hand, causing him to fall backwards in to the table where the other members of his team sat, stunned by the events happening in front of them. Fearing for their safety, they cowardly ran, leaving their toppled leader behind.

Bradly turned to rejoin his friends and met the entire cafeteria silently watching at him. He looked around at the students where were awestruck at the demonstration Bradly presented.

_This isn't goo- _Bradly thought before being approached by the faunus girl he had just saved.

"Thank you, that jerk's been bothering me and a number of other students all day." She spoke with an English accent. "I'm Velvet." She held out a hand in front of her.

"Bradly." He responded, shaking her hand.

"Nice to meet you Bradly, I guess I'll see you around." She turned to swiftly leave the cafeteria. "And thank you again." Bradly continued on to join his friends at their table who were all still awestruck. By then, most of the other students in the cafeteria had lost interest and returned to their meals and conversations.

"That...was...AWESOME!" Ruby and Jaune proclaimed enthusiastically.

"Indeed, it was very impressive." Pyrrha agreed. Yang, who was sitting across from the red-haired girl, smiled and gave Bradly a thumbs up.

"How'd you do it?" Nora asked, mouth full of food.

Bradly was hesitant. "Well...I saw his fist coming a mile away and...he wasn't really that strong."

"Not that strong? He's, like, the strongest first years in Beacon!" Jaune shouted.

"Didn't seem like it." Bradly joked back. The group laughed together as Nora finished her food.

"Well we should probably get to our next class." Pyrrha claimed. The two teams cleaned their table of plates and began making their way out of the cafeteria.

"What do we have next?" Jaune asked.

"Combat Training!" Ruby responded joyfully. Jaune swallowed heavily, nervous if he had to fight, and who.

The last half of the day was reserved for combat training and fighting skills development taught by none other than Glynda Goodwitch. The students retrieved their weapons, changed in to their combat outfits and made their way to a set of bleachers surrounding a small combat arena. Once everyone was seated, Glynda began her lesson.

"Hello students, welcome to combat training. For the first week of the semester we will be assessing your current skills in combat by sparring, one on one. To get us started, I require a volunteer." Glynda began scanning the room of students, awaiting a response. Wanting to see him in action, the members of Team RWBY began nudging Bradly to volunteer which he refused. Professor Goodwitch caught on.

"Mr. Smith, it seems as though your teammates are eager to see you up here. Could you join me please?" Bradly rolled his eyes and made his way down to the arena. "Your first lesson is about Aura, Mr. Smith, could you please bring out your scroll." He obeyed Glynda's command and opened his scroll which he had nearly forgotten he possessed and hands it to her. "Your scroll is not just a means of communication and entertainment, it is a vital tool you must use in combat to decide whether to attack or take a more defensive position. It's able to keep track of your aura's strength."

"What is an aura?" A student towards the back of the class asked.

"Aura is the manifestation of one's soul, and with enough practice, can be used as a defensive shield and even heal our injuries. It can appear differently depending on the person activating it, usually by a simple difference in color." Bradly shied away at the topic and hid his face behind his hat's rim. After tapping a few controls on Bradly's scroll, she opened up[ a window containing a green meter that showed the number one hundred over top. "This is how your scroll shows your aura's strength, monitor it carefully as you fight. In a tournament-style setting, once a person's aura drops below fifteen, they are deemed unable to continue fighting. Let's demonstrate this. Mr. Smith, could you please choose a sparring partner." Bradly scanned the students who all became nervous, Jaune being the most afraid. Bradly looked over the students until he noticed a familiar person caring for an injury to his wrist.

"I choose Cardin." Bradly pointed at the man attempting to hide behind other students. Glynda tapped a few commands on her larger scroll, bringing up Cardin's aura meter.

"It appears that Cardin has sustained an injury at some point and his aura is not at full strength, please choose someone else, Mr. Smith." Cardin sighed a breath of relief.

"Then one of his teammates should stand in for him." Bradly sneered, wanting to prove a point to Cardin.

"Fair enough, could one of the other members of Team CRDL please join us in the arena." Glynda commanded. The other three men fought each other in choosing who was to go out. Cardin then impatiently grabbed one of the men and pushed him towards the arena. "Ah, Mr. Bronzewing, thank you." She then added Dove to the roster and stepped out of the arena. "On my mark." Bradly flung his coat behind him, revealing his holstered guns and readied his hands near them but not drawing them. Dove drew his sword and fearfully positioned himself for the fight. "Ready..." Bradly's fingers twitched, causing Dove's knees to shake.

"Don't worry, I'll make this quick." Bradly threatened.

"Begin!" Glynda shouted and in less time than anyone could count, Bradly had drawn his right pistol and sent a round barreling toward Dove's head, striking him above the bridge of his nose. This round knocked the man off his feet and instantly depleted his aura. Bradly simply twirled his pistol on his finger and holstered it again, then walked back to his seat next to Weiss and Yang who simply stared at him, dumbfounded.

"Uhm, B-Bradly is..the winner." Glynda stuttered once finally processing the fight. "A-As you can see...D-Dove's aura has dropped...below f-fifteen and is...unable to...c-continue fighting. He may need medical attention." The other two uninjured members of team CRDL brought Dove to his feet and dragged him out of class to the infirmary.

"What was that?" Weiss fanatically asked the man to her side as Glynda aided Team CRDL. Feeling a sense of self-confidence, Bradly smirked.

"A fight." He replied sarcastically, he then turned his attention to include Ruby. "Remember when I shot at you guys? You only had one coming at you Weiss, but Ruby, you had eleven. Remember?" He chuckled. Both girls froze, terrified at the realization of how close to death they really were. Professor Goodwitch had returned to the combat arena to continue the lesson.

"Mr. Smith could you please join my down here again, I wish to use you for another demonstration." Bradly rolled his eyes again and reluctantly joined Professor Goodwitch again. "Mr. Arc, could you join us as well." Jaune's heart pounded in his chest as he heard his name being called. Pyrrha, also shocked, covered her mouth in panic, fearful of what may happen to her friend if Bradly was to fight him.

"I already fought someone, why me?" Bradly asked Glynda, knowing that Jaune wasn't the most capable fighter.

"You won't be fighting this time, instead, I'd like to ask you if you'd be willing to take a light strike from Mr. Arc to demonstrate the effects of taking damage on your aura."

"I'm not sure about this, ma'am." Bradly hid his face behind his hat again, concerned that the weakness in his aura would be discovered.

"Oh don't worry, I'm going to ensure that Mr. Arc's attack isn't strong enough to cause any permanent damage. Besides, judging by your demonstrated strength during initiation, you shouldn't even feel it." Glynda disregarded Bradly's concern as Jaune made his way to the arena. "Mr. Arc, could you please draw you weapon." Jaune led his shaky hand to the hilt of his sword that was sheathed on his left side and drew the blade. "Now, please lightly strike Mr. Smith."

"Uhh, what?" Jaune asked, unsure if he had heard Professor Goodwitch correctly.

"For demonstration purposes, I need you to lightly strike Mr. Smith. Hard enough to cause some minor damage but nothing too serious." Jaune's heart raced, terrified of how Bradly might feel towards him.

"Wait." Bradly halted the experiment. He then removed his jacket and dropped it to the floor at his side. "There, go ahead Jaune."

"But I-" Jaune hesitated.

"Do it Jaune! May as well get it over with. No hard feelings."

"If...if you insist." Jaune swallowed hard and gripped his sword tight. He began running towards Bradly and swung his sword with moderate strength. Without even flinching or even lifting his head, Bradly accepted the attack which struck him on the side of his right shoulder. Jaune held his sword in place, eyes shut tight, petrified at what counter attack Bradly might send back his way. However, Bradly remained motionless.

"See children, as you take damage, your aura will weaken which is shown on your scro-" Glynda halted her statement, surprised to see Bradly's aura level unaffected by the attack. "I...I don't understand." Glynda spoke, unsure of what had happened. She looked up from her scroll at Bradly to see if Jaune had missed or failed to contact his skin. As she inspected the man, blood began running down Jaune's blade and soaked in to Bradly's white shirt. Jaune had opened his eyes and fearfully pulled his blade out from Bradly's arm to which more blood began to flow.

"My aura's level will never drop below fifteen because it doesn't protect me from injury. I was hoping to keep it a secret." Bradly stated, upset by the demonstration. He then tore the cut sleeve of his shirt off his arm, exposing the open wound. "The only thing my damn aura does it keep me from falling apart." Bradly became further agitated but started focusing his emotions within himself. Suddenly, the wound on his arm began to glow a deep shade of black. The blood stopped flowing from it and moments later the wound seemed to close but left a scar behind. Upon closer inspection, Jaune and Glynda could see dozens of smaller wounds down his arm to his hand. Bradly bent down and grabbed his jacket, donning it once more then exiting the arena. He walked up the stairs of the sitting area but continued on, passed where he had been sitting, and made his way to the door. Glynda, feeling responsible, allowed Bradly to leave and motioned to his teammates to follow him. She then instructed Jaune to take his seat so they could continue the class.

Shocked and confused, the girls chased Bradly down, unsure of what he was thinking or wanting to do.

"Bradly stop, wait up!" Ruby called out as the trio caught the upset man. "What's going on? Please tell us!"

"If you want to know, follow me and I'll explain." Bradly responded with his neutral tone, worrying the girls further. He lead them back to their dorm when, once inside, he locked the door and instructed them to sit on the lower beds. They obliged, and sat patiently awaiting his explanation.

"As I said, my aura is...different." Bradly explained. "Instead of protecting me from injury, it only closes the wounds I receive. However, it leaves behind these scars, perfect images of the wounds I receive." He then dropped his jacket and removed his vest and torn shirt, revealing his torso. It was covered in scars ranging in all different shape, sizes, and directions. Some small and narrow, other spanning the entire length of his upper body from shoulder to opposite hip. Some where short but deep, like a stab wound from a large blade, and some were jagged like the cut was made with a dull edge. One wound stood out from the rest, a large round scar just to the right of the center of his chest, a few inches below his collar bone. It was about an inch to an inch and a half wide, and circular with a rough edge. Weiss was the first to notice this odd scar. She was nearly in tears over the sight of the sheer amount of damage Bradly's body has received over his lifetime.

"What...what's that...round one…?" She asked hesitantly.

"It's from a nine millimeter." He responded coldly.

"Like, the bullet, nine millimeter?" Ruby asked to confirm her thoughts.

"Yes, it goes well with the other." Bradly tuned, facing away from the girls. There were just as many scars on his back as there were on his front. Two stood out to the girls, a flat, dark scar about an inch and a half long below his left shoulder blade and a larger round one above his left hip.

"That was from a Colt .45 hollow-point. Destroyed my kidney, that one." He continued, pointing out the large scar.

"What's that deep looking one on your upper back?" Yang asked out of curiosity.

"That was a Bowie knife, missed my heart by about a quarter of an inch." Weiss had a steady flow of tears streaming down her face, while Ruby and Yang looked on interested but feeling an unpleasant sense of sorrow for Bradly.

"What...happened to you?" Ruby asked, tears welling up in her silver eyes.

Bradly let out a sigh. "Since it looks like we're going to be spending quite some time with each other, I may as well put it all out in the open..."


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey everybody, sorry for the lengthy hiatus. DON'T WORRY, this story is far from dead. I started a new job and it's been pretty time consuming but luckily, it allows for plenty of brainstorming time so I can keep writing. I've currently got up to chapter 10 written, just not proof-read so look forward to more chapters to come!**

Chapter 6 – The Gunslinger Pt. 1

It was the beginning of fall. A young boy, near the age of eight years with medium length blonde hair, sat in the back seat of a luxurious vehicle. Dressed in high-end clothing, he sat with an unhappy expression, staring out the car window at the passing world. His parents sat in the front of the vehicle, a man in his early forties typed on a laptop in the passenger seat while a blonde woman of a similar age drove along. They came upon an older, two story house at the end of a long dirt driveway, a few miles from a small town. The boy's eyes widened once they arrived and he quickly pulled off his seat belt and exited the car once they came to a stop. He ran towards the house and met a short, elderly lady who hugged him as he reached her.

"Hello Bradly, oh how I've missed you." The woman spoke. "Let me get a good look at you." She adjusted her large glasses and looked over the young boy. "My how you've grown!"

"Hi grandma." The boy responded.

"Hello Gladice." The blonde woman from the car joined them, the man remaining in his seat.

"Brenda, it's been ages. You should visit more often, or at least call sometime." The elder requested.

"I'm sorry, we've just been busy. And I can't stay, we've got a flight to catch." The woman replied, motioning back towards the car.

"Of course you do, go on then." Bradly's grandmother placed her hand on his back. "Come on in, I just made dinner." Bradly followed her towards the house, looking back over his shoulder at his mother reentering the car. No goodbyes were exchanged. Once inside, Bradly slid his designer shoes off and hurried to the kitchen table which was set with his favorite meal, roast beef. He energetically plated a large serving as the older woman sat across from him. They happily enjoyed the meal, exchanging light conversation.

"Where are they going?" The elder asked.

"Dad's got a presentation in Atlas, something with the military. And I heard mom say she had a conal- consut-" Bradly struggled with the larger word.

"Consultation." His grandmother aided him.

"Yea that. She said it was for something to do with dad's company."

"Hmm…you know, if it wasn't for your grandfather, your dad wouldn't have that job. He wanted you to have a good life, once he found out that your mother was pregnant with his grandson. So he hired your father on as an assistant but he was too good at his job, worked really hard, and shortly after you were born, your father was promoted to vice president when the job became available. Your grandfather may have had something do with with his sudden leap in status but either way your dad and grandpa worked right along side each other." Bradly listened wholeheartedly as he ate. "But it didn't last long." The elderly lady became saddened. "Your grandfather's health began to deteriorate that same year."

"What does deteriorate mean?" The young Bradly asked.

"He got sick." Bradly's eating slowed. "He was hospitalized a few days after your first Christmas, and died a little while later." His grandmother held her head low, upset by her own story. Bradly swallowed his last bite and toyed with the remainder of food on his plate. "But he adored you son." She continued, raising her head happily again. "In fact, he wanted to tell you something once you grew up and give you a present." Bradly's eyes widened with excitement at hearing the news of a gift.

"What is it?" He asked impatiently.

"I'll show you after we clean up." He grandmother smiled and began clearing the table. Bradly grabbed a few dishes and helped wash up. Once they were done, they made their way up the stairs of the home, Bradly was overjoyed at the thought of the present. They walked to the end of the hallway and approached the wall which had a large painting of Bradly's grandfather. He was a stronger built man with a tough appearance. His eyes were piercing but warm and his jaw was covered in a medium-length white beard and mustache. He wore a white, long-sleeved shirt covered by a black vest and a black western-styled hat. His left arm was down and out of frame, but right right was angled up and he held a silver revolver. A plaque on the bottom of the frame Read 'J. Smith of Smith & Wesson arms manufacturing.'

"Smith and Wesson, they make cool guns don't they?" Bradly asked gleefully.

"Well yes, your father's the current president, doesn't he tell you anything about it?" His grandmother asked him, slightly confused at Bradly's lack of knowledge.

"I don't...get to talk to dad much." He hung his head.

"I see..." She responded. She then grasped a necklace she had strung around her neck and pulled the charm out from her shirt. It was a small key. She wiggled the plaque free from the painting, revealing a small slot to which she inserted the key and turned it. Bradly heard a click followed by a deep thud. His grandma removed the key and stood back slightly as the wall in front of them began swinging outward. Once open, the door revealed a stairway. Bradly looked over at his grandmother, unsure of the section of house that had opened up. She smiled at him and motioned for him to go ahead. He cautiously stepped up the dust covered stairs, each creaking under his weight. As he peered over the next floor, he saw a large, dark room with two windows on each side that were covered by some dark curtains. Bradly stood at the top of the stairs, inspecting the room he could barely see. His grandmother walked to the windows and pulled the curtains aside, allowing light from the setting sun to shine in, causing the room to glow a soft orange. Bradly could see piles of boxes and old crates in the far right corner of the room and to their left, old training dummies mounted to the floor. Near the stairs, to his right was a cobweb-covered work bench and an old wooden stool, and to the right was a coat rack with a black western hat and belt with brown pistol holsters hanging from a peg. Something on the work bench caught Bradly's eye, a dark oak box with a lock on it's latch and a key laying near it. Bradly walked over to the bench and blew the dust off of everything revealing an intricate carving on the top of the box which read 'James Smith, S&W arms.'

"It was grandpa's." Bradly commented to his grandmother who had been sweeping the dust off the floor of the room.

"Yep. He owned them since he was a young man, given to him by his father and his father before him, like an heirloom." She replied, continuing to sweep. Bradly turned his attention to the key sitting to the side of the box. He grasped it and slid it in to the hole of the lock, which it fit snugly. He turned the key and the lock popped open with a click and a squeak from it's rusty hinges. Bradly pulled the lock away and lifted the box's lid revealing a red velvet material lining the interior. A pair of shiny, chromed revolvers with Ivory grips shone from the box, lighting Bradly's blue eyes.

"Whoa. Cool." Bradly exclaimed, awestruck by the firearms. He carefully gripped one with his right hand and pulled it from the box. It felt solid in Bradly's smaller hand but he felt connected to them and wielded it comfortably. He looked up at the coat rack and came up with an idea. After finishing her sweeping, Bradly's grandmother looked proudly at the old room, holding her broom in her hand.

"Grandma look!" Bradly called for her attention. She looked over at her young grandson who had loosely strapped the large belt around his waist and placed the black hat on his head. He had put the pistols in their holsters and walked over to his grandma, awkwardly trying to keep the belt around his waist. "Howdy partner." He joked. A warm smile broke across the elderly lady's face as she saw her grandson.

"You look just like your grandfather did." She shifted her gaze to a window overlooking the rear of the property. "Here, I want to show you something else." She lead the boy to the window and pointed to a structure in the rear yard. It looked like an old obstacle course made of metal polls and small wooden buildings, but it was run down and covered in tall grass and brush. "Bradly, do you know what hunters are?" She asked the boy.

"Yea, they're super cool fighters that kill grim and save people." Bradly enthusiastically responded. "I wanna be one but my mom says I can't." His enthusiasm faded.

"Well guess what. Did you know that your grandpa and I were hunters a long time ago?" Bradly gasped excitedly and looked up at his grandma's face.

"You and grandpa were hunters?!" Bradly's enthusiasm returned.

"Yep. And we wanted you father to become one too when he was young. Your grandfather even built him that training course back there and this room to train in."

"So dad was a hunter too?"

"No, he didn't want to fight. He was too afraid of the grim and didn't like shooting guns."

"I like those things. Could you teach me how to be a hunter?"

"I don't know, think you could handle it?" Bradly's grandmother looked down at her overjoyed grandson with a proud smile.

Over the course of the next month, Bradly's grandmother taught him how to load and fire his grandfathers revolvers and set up targets in the yard for him. They cleaned out and fixed up the old training course which Bradly wouldn't stop running through. He eagerly jumped from obstacle to obstacle, laughing and yelling in enjoyment. Bradly picked up the usage of the revolvers like a natural and was able to fire accurately fairly soon and over time, the guns felt less heavy to him as his arms became stronger from getting used to the recoil when he fired them. During a session of target practice, his grandmother heard her phone ring from within the house.

"I'll be right back, be careful gunslinger." She told her grandson. Bradly thought for a moment about the name he had just been called.

_ 'Gunslinger.' _He repeated in his mind. He returned his attention to the targets at the edge of the property and a glimpse of the training course caught his eye. He thought for a moment before coming up with an idea. He placed the guns in his back pockets as the belt was too big for him and ran off.

_"Hey mom, looks like our business trip is going to last a bit longer than expected. I hope that's ok." _Bradly's mother's voice came through the phone speaker.

"Oh that's fine, Bradly and I are having a blast." The elderly lady responded.

_"Wonderful. Thanks mom." _Before she was able to hang up her phone, Bradly's grandmother spoke up to halt her.

"Aren't you going to ask how your son is doing?" She asked her daughter-in-law coldly.

_"I've got to get going, Gladice. It was nice talking to you." _Brenda impatiently responded, ignoring the question and hanging up. The elderly woman shook her head in disapproval as she hung the phone up and began walking back out to find Bradly. When she reached the rear of the home, she noticed Bradly was no longer shooting at the targets. As she scanned the yard for him, she noticed the targets she had placed were also missing. Concerned, she began searching for the young boy. She searched the interior of the house, every room, until she was convinced he was still outside. Upon returning to the rear yard, she could hear the echo of gunshots ringing from the training course. Confused she wandered over to see what Bradly had been up to. Bradly had set the targets from his make-shift firing range throughout the obstacle course and was running through it, shooting at the targets as he went. Impressed by his ingenuity, the elder watched as he leaped and vaulted over the obstacles. Bradly pushed himself to perform, unaware of his new audience. Firing his weapons has he flew through the air, he struggled to hit the targets accurately. Ending his run, he panted hard in attempts to catch his breath and reloaded the pistols wanting to do it again.

"As clever as always." Gladice spoke up, surprising Bradly. "Why don't you come inside and take a break?"

"No." Bradly snapped, determined to keep training. "One of these days, mom and dad are going to take me home and I won't get to have fun like this anymore. I want to get really good at this so maybe they'll let me do it at home and then they might let me go to hunter's school." Bradly began crying as he spoke, upset at how miserable he felt at home. "I don't get to do anything at home, I just sit in my room or wander around the house all day."

"Don't you have friends you can go play with?"

"I did, but mom said I could get hurt so I'm not allowed going to play with them anymore. I sometimes play with the cleaning ladies and the butlers but they're no fun." Bradly's tears became tears of frustration.

"I see...well, I've got good news then." Bradly looked up at his grandmother. "Your parents had to extend their trip so you won't be going home any time soon." Bradly's watery eyes widened with happiness. "So come inside and eat something, if you want to keep training like this you'll need to keep your energy up. I'll even bake you some cookies later."

Over the next few weeks, Bradly trained harder and harder. He managed to fly through the obstacle course faster and faster while hitting the targets with extreme precision. His grandmother had also been instructing him in hand to hand combat on the training dummy in the house attic. With his new found strength in his arms, his strikes were hard and fast and he quickly picked up on the few fighting techniques his grandmother taught him. His mother had called again and explained that they would be back in Vale within the next few hours and be by to retrieve Bradly the next morning. He felt repulsed by the idea of returning to the home he loathed so much but was sure that his new found abilities would impress his parents enough to make his life better.

"Grandma, I want to make a few more runs on the course before bed." Bradly explained.

"It's getting pretty dark now, and cold too. Wouldn't you rather sit here with some hot cocoa? I can tell you some more stories about your grandfather and I when we were hunters."

"Just one more?" He pleaded.

Gladice sighed. "Alright, one more go." She stood to gather their jackets and followed Bradly to the back of the house. The yard was dimly lit by the setting sun which had just fallen below the horizon. As they passed through the rear door, Bradly's grandmother sensed danger and immediately became suspicious of the yard.

"Bradly get back in the house." She ordered firmly. Bradly spun to face her as he walked across the porch to the stairs leading to the grass.

"Why?" He asked as he stopped. His grandmothers eyes widened in fear as the large, black figure of a beowolf stood behind her grandson. Red eyes peering down at him like a predator eyeing it's next meal. Gladice grabbed the nearest object which was her trusty straw broom and lunged at the beowolf as it swung it's large claw down towards the child. She pushed Bradly out of the way and off his feet as she stopped the grim's attack with the wooden handle. Bradly crawled away backwards from the beast, shocked and scared.

"Get to the attic and close the door behind you!" She barked, straining under the strength of the monster. Bradly hesitated. "Now!" His grandmother yelled, pushing the beowolf back and striking it in it's jaw. This gave Bradly the opportunity to run passed her, through the open door of the house and up too the attic where he closed the heavy door behind him. He sprinted up the stairs and to a window overlooking the yard to see if his grandmother was ok. He scanned the yard and saw five more beowolves approaching the house with his grandmother engaged in combat with the first. The head of the broom had broken off and she was wielding the remaining handle like a rapier in a fencing stance. She knocked the grim to the ground with a quick swipe of the stick and drove the sharp broken end in to it's chest, killing it. Another beowolf had pounced at the elderly lady which she deflected with a strong slash killing it in the process as well. Bradly was proud of his grandmother for her amazing fighting skills but noticed that she seemed quite tired already. The third grim lunged at Gladice, slashing at her with it's paw, she blocked it again but the wooden stick was too weak and broke in to two. She wielded the individual pieces in each hand and repetitively stuck the grim with great speed, finishing it off by stabbing one of the pieces of broom handle in to the side of the beast's head.

Without warning, another beowolf had launched in to the air, pouncing on to the unsuspecting elder. With the other two grim still approaching, Bradly began crying, terrified of losing his grandmother. He stepped away from the window and back off until he bumped in to a crate. He caught himself on it and his hand met the familiar feel of hard fabric. He looked down at the object, tears nearly blinding him, and found his grandfather's hat. His fear and sadness was overthrown by a sudden rush of hatred and determination. Swiftly donning the hat, he drew the loaded pistols from his back pockets and ran at the window. With a crash of glass, he leaped in to the darkness with a burning desire to kill the monsters. He flew through the air and began to fall from the three story building at the grim mounted atop his grandma, he fired two round at the beast forcing it's attention at him. Bradly then dragged his feet bellow him and struck the beowolf on it's head, forcing it away from the elder before crushing it's skull under his shoes. Turning his attention to the approaching beowolves, Bradly tucked and rolled as he had done many times before in the training course, before halting in a crouch. The last of his momentum carried through his arms, outstretching them towards the beasts. Bradly aimed the pistols at their heads and fired each gun simultaneously, as though by instinct, sending a mass of lead through their brains, dropping them.

"You really are a true hunter Bradly. Just like your grandfather." Gladice spoke softly, injured, but alive. "It's in your blood son." Bradly rushed over to his grandmother and helped her in to the house where he called for emergency services.

Upon returning home and explaining what had happened during his time with his grandmother, Bradly's mother had become furious. She lectured Bradly relentlessly over the danger he had been in, how he could have been seriously hurt or killed, and confiscated her fathers equipment. She explained how any word of Bradly's actions at his age could reflect negatively on the company and instructed him that he was not to leave the house without a dedicated escort approved by his parents and that they would be hiring a private tutor to home school Bradly from now on. Any time they had important guests, Bradly was to either stay in his room or be well dressed and be 'seen and not heard.'

"So you're just going to keep me locked in the house like a prisoner?" Bradly cried.

"It's for your own safety and security of the family name." His mother responded as she left his room and closed the door behind him. Bradly collapsed on his bed, infuriated and frustrated, crying uncontrollably. Remembering how happy he was at his grandmothers, flying through the training course, he decided that since he was going to be locked in the house all the time, that he would make it worth his while. When his parents weren't around, he would run through the halls of his large home and leap over furniture, and mantle staircases like obstacles.

Bradly began to develop resentment towards his parents, he became defiant and resisted any order his parents gave him and loathed being in their presence. This disconnection with his parents continued for the years leading up to his twelfth birthday which was normally was the annual day his parents seemed to actually care about him. They would send him gifts, including a scroll the previous year, which Bradly had no use for other than to contact his parents and servants. He saw these gifts as jokes, and felt that the only reason his parents sent them was to make them feel good about themselves. This birthday was different. Throughout the entire day, Bradly waited in his room for a servant to appear with his annual gift, but to his surprise, nothing came. He called his servant asking if she had heard from his parents recently to which she responded, 'No, but I can contact them for you if you'd like. I believe they're in your father's office.' Bradly hung up his phone and angrily threw it across his room. He ferociously swung open his door and stormed through the house to his father's office. Bradly entered the office where his parents sat, glued to their work.

"Does anyone know what day it is?" He asked firmly.

"May nineteenth."His father responded in a tired, indirect voice.

"That's it?"

"Bradly, do you really have to bother us like this? If you need help with your school assignments, I'll have a servant assist you. We're busy." His mother snapped, returning to her work. Bradly felt betrayed and crushed. His parents had forgotten his own birthday. This enraged Bradly, and he exploded in to a full sprint out of the room. He ran through the halls angry and heartbroken, tears streaming down his face. He couldn't live like this anymore. He ran blindly until coming to the large wooden doors of his parent's bedroom. His anger focused on the thoughts of his parents as he kicked in the door and found himself alone in the large, elegantly decorated room. He began ransacking the room, manically throwing furniture and other objects around, smashing everything he got his hands on. He found a metal decorative fire stoking rod near a large marble fireplace and returned to his destruction.

Nearing exhaustion, he stood in the dismantled room with destruction surrounding him. Bradly spied an untouched picture hanging of him and his parents when he was a baby on a wall in front of him which caused his anger to boil once again. He walked over to the picture, scanning it, wishing his family was as happy as they seemed on the canvas. His anger reached a tipping point causing him to go berserk, striking the picture over and over in to little pieces with the stoking rod. After eviscerating the print, he scanned the wall in front of him for another object to destroy, when a metal safe sat in the wall where the art had hung caught his attention. Bradly didn't know the contents of the safe, but he wanted it, whatever it was. He began prying at the handle with his metal bar, wrenching and straining to open the door. It began to buckle under Bradly's strength, driven by insanity. After seeing the door begin to give way, he drove the end of the metal rod in to a gap between the door and the safe's body, prying harder to get it open. Eventually, the door gave out and blew open revealing it's contents to the enraged boy. Peering in to the wall safe, Bradly rage fled his body, as the objects within brought him comfort and satisfaction. His grandfathers Pistols, hat, and belt with holsters along with a fair amount of ammunition sat waiting. Bradly knew that as long as he lived in his family's mansion, he would be a prisoner forced to live by his parent's will. His choice was simple as he darted out of the room and passed a servant who had come to investigate the open doors. Upon seeing the armed youth and the destruction behind him, the servant called Bradly's parents in a panic.

Bradly ran to his room, and frantically gathered some clothing and oddities he cherished, planning on leaving the estate for good. As he prepared his items, he heard his bedroom door gently open. Startled, Bradly reached for his pistols at his sides and turned to see the intruder.

"Wait, don't shoot. It's just me sir." His personal assistant claimed, sliding in to his room and closing the door behind her. "The entire house is on high alert and police are on their way." She moved to the end of Bradly's bed and placed a brown rucksack on it. "I hate seeing you trapped in here as much as you do, so I'm not going to stop you from doing what you want. Here's some food and supplies, leave through the garden, I'll throw everyone off your trail. Just please, take car of yourself." She left the bag and hurried back to the door before smiling at him and leaving. Bradly packed the bag with his belongings and threw on a jacket and shoes from his closet. He opened his window and looked down over the rear of the house and on to the freedom that lies ahead of him and jumped in to a hedge below, rolling as he met the ground and ran. Once at the rear of the property, he mantled and tall fence and stopped at on the opposite side. He looked on, knowing his future would be rough, but he was free.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 – The Gunslinger Pt 2

"I can't believe you took out three beowolves single-handedly when you were eight!" Yang expressed, impressed by Bradly's accomplishment.

"You jumped out a freaking window!" Ruby shouted in excitement. Weiss hang her head low, unresponsive, gripping the bed she sat on.

"But still, how'd you get all those scars?" Yang asked again.

"Well that came in the years leading up to today." Bradly continued his story. "In the few months after running away from home, I lived on the streets. Eating scraps from restaurants, and sometimes even dumpsters. I eventually had to start stealing food from shops when the store clerks weren't looking. But it wasn't enough, I never seemed to have enough food to keep my stomach from hurting out of hunger. Once fall came around, I found myself struggling to find warm places to stay. I slept under discarded rugs, in entrance ways to larger buildings until someone kicked me out...anywhere to stay warm. It got really bad the one night when it rained, it felt like ice falling from the sky. Freezing and starving, I walked along the alleys, trying to find shelter. I ended running in to this man." Bradly smiled. "He saw how desperate I was and took pity on me. He said his name was Sammy and told me to follow him. He was a shorter, middle-aged man with shorter black hair and a large nose, and spoke with an Italian accent. He lead me down an alleyway to a door with a neon sign above it that said "Sammy's." He was the owner of a bar." Ruby and Yang looked on captivated by Bradly, though Weiss kept her eyes averted.

"He brought me in and let me stay in an unused storage room and introduced me to his cook, Mario, a larger quiet man, and his assistant he called Mort. He was an interesting person, short and disfigured, large bulbous eyes and didn't speak. His breathing was loud, gurgled often and he always had this blank stare. Weird man." Bradly had loosely thrown his torn shirt over himself and sat on his bed beside Ruby with Weiss and Yang their opposite. Sammy instructed Mario to 'whip something up' as he walked behind the bar and told me to sit. I sat on one of the stools, and dropped my rucksack at my side, glad to be out of the freezing rain. Sammy told me that I can stay in the back room as long as I needed as long as I didn't tell anyone and I'd need to pay my way for food. Without much option, I agreed. He warned me though, saying that a lot of the patrons who come through aren't the best company in the world but they pay well, so I best not bother them. On top of that, 'things' happen around there and it was in my best interest not to question any of it. I accepted, though curious by what he meant. After all, where else was I supposed to go?"

"What did you do for money?" Ruby asked.

"Well, once Sammy handed me a plate of food, I asked him what the best way for a kid like me to make money was. He said that judging by the guns on my waist, I wasn't exactly cut out as a business man or as a laborer. He told me that I could steal it from people, but it never would pay very well. He told me about a fighting ring down the alley where most of his bar patrons fought and gambled on fights. Then he paused, and leaned in to me and spoke quieter. I've also got a pair of contacts. One that's always looking for people willing to get the hands dirty. He explained that he accepted contracts from people looking to 'remove' certain people and paid hire guns to get it done so that there was never a connection tying him to the crime. It was all done in cash, and he paid well. And another, went by the name Murdoch, who was known to be a human trafficker and paid guys who brought in people he could sell, and cut them a profit."

"Please tell me you didn't become some sort of assassin." Yang scoffed at Bradly.

"I didn't like the idea of killing people." He responded. "I robbed a couple jerks a few times, but that's about as bad as my crime spree got. No, I chose to fight. I figured all my training with my grandma would finally pay off but I had no idea what I was getting in to. The way it worked was you signed up as a fighter, and you were pitted against other fighters at random unless one challenged you or vice versa. You got paid ten lien if you lost, twenty if you won. But I learned that most of the guys who lost weren't paid because they were either knocked unconscious and dragged out or they were killed."

"You guys fought to the death?" Ruby asked, taken aback by Bradly's story.

"Not normally, but since there weren't really any rules to the fights, some guys got carried away. Plus, there were even knife fights, they paid double. It was a rough way to make a living but, it was something."

"How well'd you do?" Yang asked.

"For the first, like, three months I often got my ass handed to me. These guys were fully grown criminals. What was a twelve year old kid supposed to do?" Bradly responded.

"And they were ok with beating up a kid?"

"They didn't care. They saw me as an easy target. I did win one fight though, some drunk dude challenged me and pulled a knife. He could barely stand up and I only threw a few punches before he dropped. I felt pretty cool for finally winning a fight but some of the other guys weren't happy so they all jumped me and beat me half to death. After they finally left me alone, I staggered to my feet, took the drunk guy's knife and walked over to the guy who paid me for the fight. He didn't watch and when he saw that I had a knife, he assumed it was a knife fight and gave me forty lien. I left back for Sammy's and when I got there, I collapsed on the floor. Sammy picked me up and took me to go see someone we only know as 'The Good Doctor.' He fixed guys up off the record for cash so he was known pretty well in the underground. Sammy paid him and he began looking at me. Apparently the guys broke two of my ribs, cracked a bone in my left arm, and cut up my face a bit. He joked that I was bloody and bruised but I'd be ok. He stitched me up, wrapped my arm in a bandage, and gave me some pain killers. Sammy and I left and went back to his bar where I paid for some chicken wings, Mario gave me some extra." Bradly smirked.

"This all sounds awful." Yang didn't understand how someone was ok with living this way.

"It wasn't that bad. Better than being trapped in a room, living under my parents rule. I was at least my own person doing things my way. Living the way I wanted to. Sure it was tough, but I endured. I got better at fighting eventually, started predicting the movements of the fighters as most of them fought the same way. I started winning pretty often too, I was faster than most of them. Only got jumped a few times but I came back swinging every time." Yang smiled at Bradly's resiliency. "As I won more, I could afford more food, and eventually bought some new clothes to replace the junk my parents got me. I think they painted a target on me because they looked too preppy. I bought some simple pants from a thrift store and some socks but then I came across a vest. It reminded me of the painting of my grandfather, so I ended up buying it and a shirt to go along with it. That's where I bought these boots too." Bradly motioned to his feet. "I think my new look rubbed a few guys the wrong way though. When my arm and ribs healed, I went back to the fighting ring and a few tougher guys eyed me when I walked in. This big dude thought to make an example of me and challenged me to a knife fight. He had a denim vest over a black t-shirt, and tattoos down his left arm. I figured I could just out maneuver him so I accepted. I took off my new shirt and vest before the fight so I didn't ruin them, drew the knife I took from the drunk dude and got in the ring. Like I thought, this guy was big and slow and I got a few shot in pretty easily. It made him mad and he charged me, I managed to get out of the way but I didn't expect him to attack again so quickly. He slashed me on my back and jumped at me. He pinned me to the ground and slammed my head in to it a bunch of times. Knocked out a few teeth too." Bradly pointed as some missing molars in his mouth.

"What happened next?" Ruby asked.

"The guy said he was going to carve his name in to my back but couldn't make clean cuts from me struggling. He yelled at me to stop squirming and stabbed me with his knife. That's that deep one you pointed out Yang."

"The one that nearly hit your heart?" She confirmed.

"Yea, the Good Doc said I was lucky to be alive."

"What did you do about the big guy?" Ruby brought Bradly back to the story.

"Well, it's not pretty. He left his knife in my back, thinking he killed me and stood up to everyone's cheers. I was stunned in pain but my mind kept coming back to thoughts of my grandma being attacked my the grim, and the anger I felt about my parents. I lost it and stood back up, I pulled the guy's knife out of my back and held it in my right hand, my knife in the other. I think that's when my aura activated because the crowed behind me started yelling like they were scared or something. I looked over my shoulder and saw a black glow and the pain went away. The big dude notice me get back up and got mad at the fact that I was still alive. He demanded that I give back his knife, I told him to come get it. He was pissed and ran at me. Just as he threw his hand out to grab his knife, I stabbed my little knife through his palm and sent his larger knife up through his head. There was so much blood. He dropped dead in front of me and the crowed went silent. I grabbed my clothes, got paid for the fight and left. The adrenaline of the fight went away and I felt like I was going to die again. It hurt so much. I went to see the Good Doctor again and explained the fight. He cleaned me up and looked at my back, said that aside from some nasty scars, I looked fine. I told him about when the guy pounded me in to the ground and the glow from my back, so he tried something. He took a scalpel and made a small cut on my palm. He told me to think about what went through my mind when I got my head smashed in and focus on the emotion. I started feeling really angry again and the glow showed up from the cut the doc made and it closed up. It left a scar but you can't really see it."

"And that was your aura." Ruby claimed.

"That's what he said, told me he'd never seen anything quite like it before. That night, in bed at Sammy's I practiced activating it. I'd make a cut on my arm with my new knife and focus my anger until it healed up. Did it over and over until both the cuts stopped hurting and my aura got easier to activate."

"That explains all these scars." Ruby pulled at Bradly's closest arm to her and inspected it carefully. "There's got to be a few hundred here!"

"Yup, practiced every day until I barely needed to concentrate. Little ones are easy but bigger ones are kinda tough."

"I wish I could do that." Yang was jealous of Bradly's aura. "So how'd you get the bullet wounds? Someone pull a gun on you at a fight?"

"Not exactly." Bradly hung his head. "There's more to it than that. See, when I left the doc's house, I ran in to this guy out walking his dog on my way back to Sammy's. He saw me go in to the house, writhing in pain and got curious so he waited outside to ask me what was wrong. He told me his name was Paul and he lived up the road a bit but never saw me around town before. I didn't want to tell this guy about me but he seemed nice enough and insisted so I reluctantly told him that I was a fighter who fought for money and that I was saving up to go to school to be a hunter. He told me that he lived with his mother and sister and that his dad was a soldier in the Atlas Military but he was killed in action. His father was the only source of income for the family since his mom was sick and when he died, Paul had to go out to find a job to support them. He was a little more than a year older than me. We talked all evening until he said he had to go home, so we parted ways. I saw him a number of times after that and we became pretty good friends, I even met his mom, Dianne, and sister, Sylvia. They were nice people." Bradly paused hanging his head low again.

"Oh no, what happened?" Ruby asked sensing Bradly's story was about to get upsetting again.

"One day, we got in to an argument, Paul and I. He wanted to know where I lived and I refused to tell him or show him. He was stubborn and persisted, so I decided to leave. But...he followed me, I didn't even notice. I was sat at the bar having a drink when he walked in with his damned dog, saw me and walked over to sit beside me. I demanded that he left, told him his life was in danger by just being there but he didn't believe me. A few guys at a back table near the dart board noticed Paul walk up to me and eyed us." Bradly choked on his words as tears began to fall from his eyes. Ruby and Yang were shocked to see the tough man they knew cry. "Three of them came up behind us, the biggest guy put his massive hand on Paul's head and asked what a pipsqueak like him was doing at this bar. I stood up to stop him but his buddy grabbed me and stuck the end of a large pistol in my back and said if I even flinched, he'd shoot. I recognized the big guy from the fighting ring, must have had a grudge on me or something. He looked back at a guy sitting at another table and asked how much he could sell Paul for. He was talking to Murdoch, that human trafficker. He responded by saying that he'd fetch a decent price, being a young, in shape male, and he could sell him to a slave farm or something. Paul was terrified and began to weep. Murdoch kinda scoffed and said that crybabies never sell well and disregarded him. The big brute turned his attention back to Paul and said he wasn't worth the skin he wore and ordered his other buddy to tie him to a chair. Paul couldn't even fight back. His dog started freaking out and jumping up at the big guy which annoyed him so he kicked the poor animal across the room, toward the table he came from where two other guys picked it up from it's leash, pulled a picture off the wall and hung the dog from it's nail. They started beating the little thing before deciding to use it as a new dart board."

Ruby and Yang gagged in disgust. "Why would anyone do that? Ruby asked upset by the idea. Bradly ignored her question, lost in his own story. He stared blankly in to the room as tears flowed heavily down his cheeks.

"The little dog whined with each dart strike until it went quite, dripping blood on to the floor. Bradly wept as the large man sarcastically consoled him about his friends 'breaking their new game.' Then he said it was his turn to play and struck Paul across his face. The man swung his fists over and over at him, bashing at his face and gut. I heard a few cracks with some of the strikes but none worse than the last hit the man delivered. He threw a strong right hook at Paul's head, knocking him and the chair over. Paul just laid there, still, I couldn't even see him breathing. The man holding me let go and I fell to my knees, staring in shock at my battered friend. His face was distorted, black and blue, with blood running from his eyes, nose and mouth. I heard the big guy order the guy behind me to 'make sure to send him packing' and I jumped in front as the bastard fired his pistol. It struck me in my lower back where you saw that scar. I had never felt so much pain and anguish." Bradly's tears flowed heavily and Ruby put her arms around him in support.

"I felt like I was going to black out, but that's when things changed." Bradly continued, his voice getting stronger. "I started feeling angry, but more than I ever had before. I started feeling really warm, like I was getting sick or something. I focused the anger inward to try and heal the bullet wound so I didn't die of blood loss and the sting disappeared instantly. I felt the anger grow to the point where I couldn't contain it anymore and my eyes shot open. As I stared at my dead friend, all the color around him faded away and I suddenly felt calm."

"Your semblance." Ruby whispered to herself.

"I looked up at Paul's murderer and it was as if time had slowed to a crawl and I felt a burning blood-lust. I moved slowly to a crouch and drew my large knife from my waist band. The man behind me had lunged at me as I moved and tried to grapple me again but I threw my right elbow in to his nose, stunning him. I grabbed his right arm and grabbed the pistol in his hand before spinning around to my left and sending my knife in to the side of his skull. He dropped to the floor as I pulled my knife from his head. At that point, the men at the back of the room throwing darts at Paul's dog caught my eye. I raised the pistol and noticed a red beam in my sight. The beam was lined straight to the first man's head and, although by instinct, I drew the gun to match the red beam. When I fired the pistol, I saw the bullet travel perfectly along this beam and coursed through the man. The beam then disappeared and flashed to the other man standing beside him with the same line marking his skull like a target. I fired the pistol again and like clockwork, the bullet flew along this line until it contacted the man. Time returned to normal as their brains exploded against the wall behind them and their limp bodies fell. I stood confused at what had just happened, until the battle cry of the large man before me came to my attention. I saw a red silhouette of what looked like an arm travel towards my hand that wielded the gun moments before the brute's arm followed it, knocking the gun from my hand and sending it flying across the wall." Ruby gripped Bradly's arm tightly at the gruesome description of the men's deaths.

"I was knocked back from the man but he continued his assault at me. I watched as the faint red hazes predicted each strike, showing me their precise direction of travel and their eventual contact with their target, me. The next strike I saw predicted in my eyes was an open-palmed grasp aimed at my vest's collar, so raised my hand that held my knife and aimed the tip of it's blade at the center of the silhouette. The knife impaled the mans hand, sliding through to the hilt before the man pulled his arm back in pain. After steadying himself, he threw a punch with his other arm, which I saw the prediction of as well. I held my blade to the side of the red mist as his arm slid along it, slicing deep through his skin and muscle. He staggered passed me, dripping with blood from both sides. Desperate, he charged at me, shoving me aside with his massive shoulder and ran toward the exit. My blood lust hadn't been satisfied though and I chased after him. He stumbled away from me, glancing over his shoulder as he ran through the alley, hoping to get away from me. I tossed the knife in to my right hand and thought of throwing it at him, hoping to scare him off for good. I saw the red outline of my knife tumbling through the air in his direction, aimed to land somewhere in his back. Like second nature I hurled the blade as hard as I could, releasing it at the exact moment it reached the red figures. It followed them as it tumbled end over end before reaching it's target in the center of his back, severing his spine." Yang closed her eyes, trying not to picture the horrific sound of metal on bone. Bradly's voice had returned to neutral as his tears suddenly stopped.

"He collapsed on to the ground and tried crawling away under the glow of a lone street light where I finally met up with him. I drew my knife from his back as he winced in pain, letting out a terrible scream. I kicked him on to his back and squatted at his side so I could see the fear on his face. He was petrified at the sight of me and laid perfectly still. No longer enraged, the feeling I had was replaced by the desire for revenge of my friend. I quickly sent my blade in to his chest, and struck him over and over like he had done to Paul. I thought of his mother and sister who would now go without care, and once exhausted, I slowly drove the blood-soaked steel deep in to his throat. Coughing and gasping for air, he attempted gurgling for a breath passed my knife. After convulsing a few times...his movement stopped and his body went limp." Bradly paused for a while, his breath had quickened after reliving his past through his words. The four students sat silent in their room, Ruby and Yang staring blankly while attempting to process the story as Weiss quivered in her seat.

"What...what happened then?" Ruby broke the silence, hardly able to speak.

"I went back in to Sammy's bar and found that his patrons had left and the bodies of the men, Paul and his dog had disappeared. The blood had been cleaned from the floor and furniture put back in their place as though nothing had happened. The color had returned to my vision and I saw Sammy standing at his bar, washing a glass. I sat in front of him still in shock over what I had done. He placed a shot glass down in front of me and held his hand out, motioning for my knife that I still clutched in my grip. I hesitantly gave it to him as he placed it below the counter and brought out a bottle. He poured some in to the glass and told me to drink while he began washing my blade. I stared blankly, grasped the glass in my fingers and shot back the liquid. It burned, but it was oddly calming. I placed the glass back down, leaving bloody fingerprints on it that Sammy noticed. He told me to go in the back and clean up as he took the glass and washed it as well. After returning from the kitchen, I sat on the stool once more and took in a deep breath, trying to calm myself. I wanted to ask Sammy where Paul's body was but as I opened my mouth to speak, Sammy shot me a look that made me remember what he had said before; 'Things happen around here, best not to ask questions.' As I halted myself, Sammy spoke up saying that he had found some things and I might want them. He placed Paul's dog's leash and collar on the counter as well as a silver locket. I stared at the items not knowing what to do with them. Sammy said the locket was in Paul's pants. I held the locket in one hand and the leash in the other and contemplated what to do. Having an idea, I stood up and took the leash over to the wall where Paul's dog died and found the nail it was hung from and placed it back as a reminder to all of what happens when someone messes with me. That was my hope at least. On my way back to the bar, I ended up spotting a jacket someone had left on the back of a chair. The same jacket I wear today."

"What did you do with the locket?" Ruby asked, croaking out her words. Bradly leaned toward his rucksack and pulled it from his other belongings. He held it up in front of him as Ruby and Yang inspected it. Bradly then opened it, revealing a two pictures. One of a man in an Atlas Military outfit and another of a blonde woman with a younger girl and an older boy. Ruby rested her head on Bradly's shoulder, still clinging to his arm.

"Is that Paul?" She asked, already knowing the answer. Bradly nodded before gripping the locket tight. A single tear fell from Bradly's eye.

"He didn't deserve to die." He spoke under his breath, trying not to cry again. Yang stood from Weiss's bed and crossed the room, sitting beside Bradly and resting herself against his other shoulder, opposite Ruby. The two girls silently consoled him as Bradly hung his head low in shame.

"That puts my kill count up to six so far." Bradly pointed out from behind his harsh breathing.

"Six? You killed the big biker dude, this muscle head and his three lackeys. Who's the sixth?" Yang asked.

"Paul." Bradly responded, beginning to well up again. "If it wasn't for me, he'd still be alive." Bradly started to become upset with himself. "I let my guard down, I failed to protect him, I'm the reason he's dead. I killed him." Bradly's blood boiled. Yang and Ruby held him close for a long moment as he sat in despair.

"So what brought you to Beacon?" Ruby asked wanting to hear the rest of Bradly's story. After a pause to gather himself, Bradly continued in his usual neutral voice.

"Well a few weeks later, on a Friday night after some fights, I was sitting at the end of Sammy's bar. The place was packed. Most of the patrons were fighters and eyed me, but weren't willing to try anything. Suddenly the door burst open and three men walked in wearing a bunch of denim and tattoos. One carried a baseball bat, another held a steel pipe and the man in the center wielded a shotgun. Most of the guys in the bar stood and drew their own weapons, reacting to these guys. The one holding the shotgun yelled that he was looking for me. Apparently I killed his little brother a little while ago and wanted revenge. Almost everyone in the bar shifted their attention to me"

Ruby gasped. "What did you do?"

"Well I figured that if I was going to die that night, that I wasn't going to go without a fight. Sammy had just poured me a shot which I knocked back before standing and drawing my pistols. I calmly responded to him and asked what he wanted. He said he wanted to kill me which didn't sit well with some of the other guys in the bar. They all wanted to kill me themselves and before I knew it, everyone was brawling over the rights to take me out. Of course I got dragged in to the fight and was immediately outnumbered. I popped a few guys before getting knocked back in to the bar counter as Sammy walked in to the back room."

"Why didn't he help?" Yang asked.

"He never liked getting involved with any of the bar fights, figured it was bad for business and would only paint a target on his back if he chose sides. But my luck wasn't all bad. A thinner, middle-aged mad with short black-ish hair sat at the bar next to where I was shoved. He asked me if I needed help, and I responded by saying that I should be ok but if he wanted to have some fun as well then I wouldn't stop him." Bradly chuckled to himself. The sisters were glad that Bradly wasn't feeling so upset anymore. "The man got up and drew this weird sword. It was wide and looked like the blade was made in pieces. It even had this odd gear mechanism in the handle. One hell of a fighter though."

"Ruby that sounds like-" Yang looked over at her sister who was enthralled in Bradly's story again.

"Him and I fought pretty well together. I did take a few blows though. The man and I managed to sneak away from the fight and we ended up laughing about it as we walked down the alley. The adrenaline ended up wearing out though and I dropped to my knees in pain. My chest was sliced up pretty bad. That's where I got that big one." Bradly traced the large scar that ran across his torso from his shoulder to above his hip. "The guy asked me if I'd be ok and I told him not to worry about me and activated my aura, closing my wounds. He seemed impressed and made me an offer that brought me here. He said he knew some people that could get me in to Beacon, since he thought that my abilities would be better used as a hunter rather than some low-life bar brawler. I told him that I had wanted to be a hunter since I was a little kid so I spent the remaining few weeks before the semester started practicing how to use my new found ability. Took to it naturally since I had already been a good shot. And then I met you girls." Bradly smiled looking at the two sisters at his sides. Yang collapsed on to Bradly's bed.

"Man...that's a lot to take in all at once dude." She commented. Bradly smirked as he looked down at the floor.

"I don't think you're responsible for Paul's death." Ruby spoke up. "After all, you did try to save him, even though it didn't turn out how you hoped." Her attempt at consolation became awkward but Bradly smiled at the gesture.

"Thank you Ruby, but I don't think I could ever see it that way. It's something that I've learned to cope with and have moved on from." Bradly responded warmly. Weiss suddenly stood after hearing his last statement. She quivered in anger as she glared at the confused man with tears streaming down her face in frustration.

"How could you just disregard everything you've been through and done so easily?" She barked. "It's like nothing ever mattered to you in the fist place!" Weiss stormed out of the room in a rage, leaving the other three members of her team stunned. Yang sat up after she left.

"Where'd that come from?" The blond asked.

"I don't know, but I hope she's ok." Replied Ruby.


	8. Chapter 8

_** Oh man, it's been a little while since I've posted a new chapter to say the least. Work has had me almost forget about the story once or twice now but I remembered. I've noticed that it doesn't really have much of a flowing so I've been putting off writing for a bit. I appreciate the few who do read it and favorite it however, and I do have a few more chapters already written including this one, so for the handful of fans this story does have, here your go but I wouldn't hold your breath on seeing anything posted again for a little while. Who knows, maybe I'll catch a second wind with it and write a whole bunch again... Just feeling really detached from the story... We'll see. **_

Chapter 8 – Words Cut Deep

Weiss stormed through the halls of Beacon academy blindly, emotionally stricken by the story of Bradly's upbringing. She didn't know where she was going or where she'd end up but as long as it was away from him, she felt better.

"Weiss! Weiss!" Yang's voice echoed through the corridors in search of the grief-stricken heiress. She slid around a corner and saw the white-haired girl coming towards her, tears flowing down her face as hard as ever. When Weiss noticed the blonde, she turned and ran from her.

"Weiss, wait up! What's wrong?" Yang shouted to her. Blinded by her watery eyes, Weiss stumbled and fell to her knees against a wall with her teammate close behind.

"Weiss, what's going on? Are you ok?" Yang asked with great concern for her friend as she placed her hands on Weiss's shoulders, kneeling before her as she sobbed in pain. Yang comforted the smaller girl until her weeping began to fade.

"How did he do it Yang? I just don't understand how easy it was for him." Weiss finally spoke through her tears.

"What do you mean?"

"Leaving everything behind. His home, his parents, everything."

"Well...he did explain how bad it actually was living there, with his parents." Weiss sat against the wall to her side and pulled her legs toward her chest, wrapping her arms around her knees.

"I know that but...ugh, you don't get it." Weiss halted her sentence with sorrow in her voice.

"Then explain it to me. I'm here for you, Weiss." Yang replied warmly. Weiss looked up at her friend and was met by a kind smile. She let out a deep sigh, regaining her composure.

"My father...isn't exactly 'parent of the year,' if you catch my drift." Yang nodded understandingly. "He always used to tell me to sit straight, maintain your appearance, 'you're a Schnee after all.' He kept me from playing with other kids unless their parents were from a big company or something, never really let me be myself or do what I wanted."

"Like Bradly. I see..." Yang replied.

"That's why I'm upset. Him and I lived the same way growing up, yet he managed to fight through it all and break free. Sure he ended up living in a way that wasn't ideal but, like he said, at least _HE _was the one making his own decisions. What am I doing wrong? What finally came over him to throw his whole life away and start over? And why can't I?" Weiss began to lightly sob again, getting worked up over her frustration. Yang paused I contemplation of Weiss's questions.

"I don't know." She responded. "He's got this amazing force that drives him, and yet his goals seem so simple. He just wants to live. It's kind of admirable. How he does it? I don't know. You'll have to find out yourself." Yang looked over to Weiss who had buried her face in her knees. "But hey, I'm here for you until you figure things out, Ruby too, ya know? And, I'm sure Bradly-" Yang was cut off as Weiss suddenly stood."Weiss? Where are you going? Everything ok?" Yang asked, surprised by her.

"I'm fine." Weiss barked back, frustrated further by her lack of knowledge. Yang rose and followed her teammate through the halls until they had returned to their dorm room. Weiss stopped in front of the door and placed her hand on it's handle. She took a deep breath and calmed herself before entering the room to find Ruby and Bradly mid-conversation. Ruby noticed the heiress enter followed by her older sister.

"Weiss! Yang! Is everything ok?" She asked in concern. Weiss averted her eyes from the pair.

"Yea, she was just bothered by Bradly's story. Really hit her hard." Yang lied, keeping their conversation secret.

"Awe. Yea you kinda dropped a bombshell on us Bradly." Ruby joked.

"Sorry, I know it was a lot, I just figured that it was important that I told you." Bradly responded. "Sorry."

"That's ok, I'm glad I now know where my partner came from." Yang replied, giving him a thumbs-up and a friendly smile. Bradly looked up at Weiss who stood in the center of the room, arms crossed. Her eyes met his momentarily before snapping away.

"I'm going for a shower." She barked coldly and stormed in to the bathroom. Bradly dropped his head, wanting to know what bothered the heiress so much but decided it was best to let her be. Ruby had noticed Bradly's reaction and patted his back.

"She'll be ok." She reassured him.

"There's a saying I go by that's helped me survive these past years. Sammy said it when I moved in to the bar. 'Sometimes things happen. Best not to ask questions.'"

"Oh ya, you mentioned that. Hmm...I guess that makes sense." Ruby yawned and stretched her arms. "What time is it?" She asked.

"About seven thirty." Yang responded. "C'mon, we can still catch the end of dinner at the caf." Ruby hopped to her feet and made her way to the door with her sister.

"You girls go ahead, I ate a big lunch. I'm gonna hit the hay." Bradly said, slipping out of his boots and hung his hat on the top bedpost of the bunk. The two girls left, closing the door behind them, leaving Bradly behind. He looked over at the door to the bathroom where Weiss had entered, not hearing the sound of running water. He wanted to talk to her, but repeated his saying to himself.

_"Sometimes things happen. Best to not ask questions." _He thought.

Spring turned to summer as the semester at Beacon academy went on. Tension had grown within Team RWBY as Weiss remained cold and avoided the other members regularly. Bradly had blamed himself for Weiss's attitude and spent his days brooding over it. Ruby and Yang stuck with each other, but living with the constant dark atmosphere had worn on them. The only contact Bradly and Weiss would make was Bradly noticing her glaring at him from afar. She watched him in spite day in and day out, in the morning before and during class, at lunch, during combat training and after. Her attitude towards Bradly worsened as the days went on and others began noticing her frustration with him more and more.

Combat Training class had become a hot topic around the school, with Bradly's name appearing in many conversations. He had become well known throughout the school as a force to be reckoned with since, from the beginning of the school year, he had been completely undefeated in sparring. He proved to be a deadly force as even a number of upperclassmen had failed to take him down. Glynda was forced to give Bradly rubber bullets for his pistols as a handful of students had to be taken to the infirmary due to his skills as a fighter. Bradly had become iconic throughout Beacon but he refused to accept the fame. He humbly accepted any of the challenges that called for him and never boasted about his victories. Other students would call out to him in the halls, calling him Gunslinger as his grandmother once did, and congratulated him after winning fights. Bradly liked the attention but held his ego back from inflating.

After forcing the doors closed, pushing Bradly's fans back and locking them out, Combat Training class had begun once again.

"I have no idea." Ruby claimed to Jaune after he asked her what was wrong with Weiss. "She's been like this forever." Jaune dropped his shoulders hoping she was alright.

"Good afternoon students." Professor Goodwitch addressed her class. "Since you all did well with yesterdays exercise, well, most of you…" She looked over at Jaune who snapped in to a nonchalant expression. "We will be doing some simple, one-on-one sparring today. Does anyone want to vol-" Glynda was cut off as Weiss suddenly stood with her rapier, Myrtenaster, already drawn and brought herself to the arena. "Alright then, Miss Schnee would you pick a-"

"You." She snarled, pointing her sword at Bradly. The classroom suddenly went quiet as the students watched in shock.

"A-Alright then, M-Mr. Smith." She entered their combatants in to her scroll to track their aura levels. Glynda could sense a strong tension between the two teammates. "Please keep in mind that this is only a training exercise." She paused and exited the arena. "Fighters at the ready, begin." Glynda shouted. Without hesitation, Weiss cast a glyph at her feet and swiftly dashed toward Bradly, blade at the ready. Bradly stood with his hands in his jacket pockets, dodging her attack last moment without effort. Weiss summoned another glyph before her and pushed off of it as Bradly regained his footing. He jumped over the heiress as she darted back at him, and withdrew his hands from his coat. Weiss rolled back to a stance after missing her target and regained composure. The two students faced away from each other and stood motionless.

"Why aren't you fighting back?" Weiss asked, frustration lined her voice.

"Because you're not focused on the fight. Something's been bothering you, and for quite some time." Bradly responded with his calm, neutral-toned voice. Weiss gripped her rapier tightly and balled her opposite hand in to a fist.

"Fight me, damn it!" Weiss ordered angrily, shouting at him. Bradly sighed in disappointment.

"As you wish." He responded, pushing his long-coat away from his pistols, hovering his hands above their grips. Weiss readied her rapier by spinning it's chamber to a white selection. The two spun to face each other. Bradly's eyes glowed red as Weiss fired ice shards from a summoned glyph which were met by Bradly's bullets in a counter-attack. Weiss's determination agitated her as the two exchanged projectiles, causing her to summon a second glyph to fire ice from, doubling her attack speed. Bradly effortlessly matched her fire rate, juggling his revolvers from hand to hand, reloading them as he continued his barrage.

Bradly sighed in discouragement as he disliked the idea of fighting Weiss, especially since he still felt responsible for her feelings. He wished to end the fight quickly to spare their emotions and began manipulating his gunfire. He began pushing back in to Weiss's attack, firing faster than she could. He purposely missed a flying ice shard and dodge it himself to be able to send the bullet, originally designated for it, to ricochet off of the viewing area behind Weiss to strike her in the back, lowering her aura and forcing her to lose concentration on her attack.

Weiss's eyes widened and began to water as she felt the shot hit and dropped to her knees. Glynda motioned to stop the match but Yang, who had snuck beside her during the match, halted her. Weiss began weeping out of frustration over herself.

"What are you?" Weiss asked behind her tears. "What makes you so much stronger than me?" Bradly turned away from her, unsure how to answer the question and hung his head in shame. "ANSWER ME!" She shouted in rage at the silent man.

"I don't know what you want me to say, Weiss." Bradly responded somberly. He hung his arms, still wielding his pistols, at his sides. "I don't know what's gotten in to you, or what you're thinking I am, but I'm certain you're wrong."

Weiss's thoughts fogged her mind, desperation to find a thread of inner strength, she screamed in rage. "My father has been controlling my life and everything in it, he's always forced his agenda on me and blamed me for every failure! When I heard your story of how your parents treated you and how easily you abandoned them to live your own life, it made me feel worthless and weak!"

"So then why are you here beating yourself up and destroying the relationships you've built with Ruby, Yang and I?!" Bradly shouted back, turning to face the maddened girl.

"Because I can't handle knowing how weak I am...because I can't handle knowing how much stronger than me you are!" Weiss exploded. She darted at Bradly in unhinged rage, faster than she had ever moved before. He watched motionless as the heiress sprung at him, sword first. Bradly could see the trajectory of her attack aimed at his head and the pained, and desperate look on Weiss's face with her eyes shut tight. He could tell that she wasn't in control of her own emotions or thoughts anymore and was acting out of pure spite. Bradly's guns dropped to the floor.

Onlooking students gasped in shock as the sound of slicing echoed through the room, followed shortly by the sound of blood dripping to the floor. Weiss opened her eyes and was stunned as she looked at her stricken teammate. Bradly had dodged Weiss's attack close enough that the tip of her rapier had grazed Bradly's cheek, leaving a light cut. Instead of counter attacking, Bradly had grabbed Weiss's blade mid-thrust, letting it cut deep in to his palm. Bradly stared deep in to the girl's eyes as though he could see in to her very soul. He had deactivated his semblance so that Weiss could see the rings of deep blue that stared back at her. A sight she had only seen once before.

"Like I said, you're wrong." Bradly threw Myrtenaster to the ground beside him, easily pulling it from Weiss's loosened grip. With his opposite hand, he grabbed hers and ran for the nearest exit of the class towing her behind, leaving the shocked class in silence.

Once in the hall, the two collapsed against the wall beside the entrance to the room. Weiss sat on her knees hardly able to keep herself upright and held her head low, quietly weeping. Bradly sat with his back against the wall, resting his bloodied had on the floor beside him, opposite to Weiss, twitching as it stung.

"You're wrong Weiss, about me and about you." Bradly repeated. "I'm not stronger than you, and you're definitely not weaker than me."

"How?" Weiss squeaked, choking on her tears. She looked up at Bradly like a lost puppy, confused and ashamed, desperately seeking answers. Bradly placed his uninjured hand on Weiss's shoulder and looked sincerely in to her eyes.

"Because, despite what you think, or rather, what your father made you think, you show courage, determination, fight, and most of all, heart. That's what makes you equally as strong as me. Just because I fled my family, leaving my life behind and you haven't doesn't make you better or worse than me, just different. We're pretty similar, you and I." Bradly chuckled to himself. Weiss's sobbing began to fade as she began to come to her senses. She rested against the wall beside Bradly and released a deep breath.

"When I heard the story about your past, it made me feel like a failure. I just kept asking myself, 'how can he just do what I've always wanted to do and make it sound so easy?' I just couldn't wrap my head around it so I started pitying myself, and kept thinking I was so useless. But then I started resenting you, thinking that you were just trying to rub it in my face, like some sort of being sent to me just to make me feel like a failure." Weiss rested her head against Bradly's shoulder. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright Weiss." Bradly responded, wincing at his injury. He held his hand up to inspect the deep cut which was bleeding severely.

"Oh god, and now I've gone and done this to you. I'm pathetic." More tears dropped from her eyes.

"No, I did this to myself." Bradly reassured her. "I caught your blade to prove to you that I'm not some sort of invincible being, that I'm only human, just as you are." Weiss paused, allowing her to swallow her guilt.

"We should get you to the infirmary to have that fixed up."

"No, I got it." Bradly began focusing his emotions on his wound but his aura wouldn't activate. "Wait, I don't understand." He tried over and over, straining himself to force his aura to heal him as it had hundreds of times before but nothing happened.

"Are you ok?" Weiss asked out of concern.

"I...I don't know. My aura, I can't seem to focus on it anymore." Bradly began to worry as panic started to enter his mind. Weiss grabbed his opposite hand, trying to calm him causing wave of warmth to wash over him as he felt Weiss's grasp, and all of his emotions faded, except one. Suddenly, without warning, Bradly's aura glowed from his wound healing it faster than before. He pondered over what the feeling was that caused his aura to activate without him concentrating.

"That looks better." Weiss commented, but her tone shifted to disappointment. "But it left a nasty scar." She blamed herself for the reminder of her mistake she etched in to Bradly's palm. Bradly balled his previously wounded hand in to a fist, feeling the movement of the now repaired flesh.

"That's alright, I think it looks pretty good." He responded.

"Wait, what do you mean?" Weiss looked at Bradly with confusion and disgust. He paused for a moment before answering with his own question.

"What do you think of scars? Specifically, what do you think of yours?" He asked sincerely. Weiss sat up, taken aback by Bradly's sudden question.

"It's a reminder of my past failures. That's all scars are, your body's way of telling you that you were weak, made a mistake and got hurt." She responded, feeling a sense of regret and frustration.

"I see…" They sat in silence for a moment before curiosity overcame Weiss.

"Do you regret any of your scars?" She questioned. Bradly simply smirked.

"Not even in the slightest." Weiss was astonished at Bradly's response. "The way I see it, scars aren't there to remind you of your failures, they don't signify weakness, and they definitely don't represent mistakes. No." Bradly looked back up at Weiss, their eyes meeting once again. "When our bodies receive injuries that break us apart, do they just give up? No. They put the pieces back together, makes themselves whole again and move on. Scars to me are symbols of accomplishment and strength." Bradly rested his fingertips from his injured hand against Weiss's cheek and gently caressed the scar under her eye with his thumb. "They show that you stood in the face of adversary and came out on top. That you were strong enough to deal with the difficulty, fought through the pain and won. Scars aren't ugly pictures of your past, they're the brush strokes of the future _you_ paint. And they're beautiful." Weiss felt an overwhelming sense of warmth and happiness flood through her body upon hearing Bradly's words, emanating from her racing heart. As she gazed in to his eyes, she felt as though the world around her had simply vanished.

"Bradly..." She squeaked as she raised her hands to the sides of his face. She slowly leaned closer to him, gently motioning his face towards hers and as they both closed their eyes, they joined their lips together. Bradly slowly moved his hand from Weiss's face and gently wrapped his arms around her, softly pulling her in to his embrace. Weiss felt an explosion of passion burst within her as tears lightly fell across her cheeks. She had never felt such a powerful force before and wished that it never stop. The two remained locked together, blissfully ignorant of the world around them for a seemingly immeasurable amount of time. Weiss and Bradly had fallen in love.


End file.
